Percys Musical Talents
by Champion of the Primordials
Summary: Percy's Dark Past.Apollos Crazy Competition.Unknown Talents. What Will Happen? \ /
1. chapter 1

**All rights go to Rick Riordan for the characters and setting and to HeroesOfOlympus on Percy Jackson FanFiction.**

 **Prologue**

3rd Person POV

Jason, Piper, Percy, Annabeth, Frank, Hazel, Leo, Calypso, Nico and Will were hanging out in the sword arena. How was Leo and Calypso here you ask? It would be easier if I showed you a flashback.-FLASHBACK-Leo's P.O.VSorry ladies but I've gotta bossy, sassy, overprotective girlfriend. That may sound like bad qualities but it helps me to listen to her at times. *cough not that often cough* Although I think the main reason I love her is, she's beautiful, smart, hot (like me) and she's not like any girl I've ever met.Sorry Beauty Queen but even she's better than you.She's not stuck up and she doesn't care about her looks, plus she has some same interests as me. I'm getting off track the story. As we neared Camp Half Blood, I heard some shouts of:"SPARKY GET OUT HERE! I SEE LEO AND SOME GIRL ON FETSUS!""IS THAT LEO? OH GODS IT IS LEO! WAIT IS THAT A GIRL BEHIND HIM?""LEOOOOOOOOO VALDEZZZZ!!!!!!!!! I AM GOING TO CHOP YOU UP INTO PIECES!!!""WHAT IN HADES?!?! LEO!!! IS THAT WHO I THINK IT IS???""YES SEAWEED BRAIN, IT IS LEO AND CALYPSO!!!"I think my ear drums were officially damaged that day. Shouts were coming from Camp Half Blood as I circled over it on Fetsus. There was huge crowd gathering, pointing at me, Calypso and Fetsus and screaming. I'm not sure in excitement or anger? I take it as excitement.I suddenly felt Calypso's grip around my waist tighten. I turned around to see a worried looking Calypso."Leo... I'm scared," Calypso muttered with her warm eyes staring into mine. "Calypso? Daughter of a mighty strong fierce warrior titan scared of a few demigods?" I teases. She punched me in the guy. Hard."OWWW!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. She flipped her braid over her shoulder and glared at me fiercely. "Serves you right," she huffed before turning her back towards me."Hey... Ms Grouchy, I'm sorry, I know you're scared but those people down there? They're friends, they would never hurt you," I made her look at me before kissing the top of her forehead. "You're too cheesy," she giggled while I wiggled my eyebrows at her. Suddenly, Fetsus started creaking. "What'd ya say?" I asked. Fetsus creaked some more before I turned to Calypso and held her hands. "Okay Calypso, we are going to land now. Are you ready?" I gently asked. She rolled her eyes at me and playfully punched my shoulder."I'm not a baby flame boy, stop fussing over me," before I could answer her, we landed in the middle of the demigod crowd. "Leo? Leo!" My friends screamed before tackling me into a hug. "I think you all broke my ribs," I squeaked out.We all got out of the hug, not before everyone punched me in the stomach. Hard. Really hard. "So, I'm guessing this is Calypso?" Piper said before staring at me, her eyes twinkling.-FLASHBACK END-3rd person P.O.V"Yield?" Percy grinned. "Yield..." Jason sulked as Percy gave him back his sword and capped Riptide and put it back into his pocket."Let's go!!! I'm starving!" Piper screamed while pulling her boyfriend Jason along with her to the dining pavilion. Will winked at Nico, with a sunny aura surrounding him. Will and Nico got together right before Leo came back to Camp Half Blood that day. "Meet you guys at the dining pavilion! Last one there gets a whole bucket of ice water on their heads!" Percy laughed as he sprinted as fast as Hermes flying shoes.Laughing, the demigods chased after Percy, his ice water buckets were always super cold.Percy's P.O.VHolding Annabeth's hand, I turned to her and gave her my signature lopsided smile before there was a flash next to Chiron and there stood Apollo, with his cheesy smile staring at everyone and particularly me.


	2. Sorry

Sorry for the other chapters weird layout I'm new by the way keep updated!New chapters soon.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 : Apollo's Arts Competition**

Percy's P.O.V

All the demigods scrambled from their seats to bow. Mr. D rolled his eyes at all the demigods while muttering, "Why don't these little pests bow to me whenever they see me? I should turn all of these ungrateful scums into dolphins..."

"Lord Apollo? What a pleasant surprise, what are you doing here?" Chiron announced, with a twinge of annoyance in his voice. Not noticing Chiron's slightly different attitude, Apollo turned towards is and flashed us a grin with his pearly white teeth. A few Aphrodite girls melted on the spot.

"DEMIGODS! I have decided to host an arts competition! The arts include, singing,"

At this the whole Aphrodite cabin squealed while some Apollo cabins cheered.

"Drawing or Painting," The Athena cabin straightened up while murmuring.

"Dancing," Cue the Aphrodite cabin screaming in delight and the Apollo cabin grinning.

But... "LEO VALDEZ IS GONNA OWN THE DANCE FLOOR!!!" Everyone started laughing in disbelief before turning their attention back to Apollo.

"And playing any musical instrument," At this, my eyes widened and my hands twitched. Oh gods... All those words Apollo said... Singing, drawing, painting, dancing, playing any musical instrument?

Memories, bad, bad memories came to me in a flash. Memories I tried so hard to get rid of. So hard. I couldn't take it, recalling all the bad and a bit of good memories from the past, I ran past Apollo.

Towards a safe place.

The ocean.

Annabeth's P.O.V

After Apollo finished talking about what form of arts there are, I turned my head towards the Poseidon's table.

Okay, more specifically Percy.

I was going to flash Percy a grin of excitement. Drawing, Painting! One of my skills.

Well maybe for only drawing buildings.

Okay... Maybe just drawing architecture. But still! That's gotta count as drawing! As I flipped my head towards the Poseidon's table, I saw Percy looking as white as... Well... Nico.

He was pale and his green eyes were wide open. Inside them, I saw a hurricane, swirling. The next minute, I saw a tsunami.

He was clenching his hand. I saw his knuckles and his hands were white. Sweat was trickling down his forehead. I was worried for him. I frowned and was about to go over to him before he ran out of the dining pavilion.

"What in hades..." I muttered before staring at Chiron, signalling, can I follow him. Chiron took one look at my stormy, worried grey eyes before nodding his head, a frown across his face.

As I sprinted past Apollo, I swear to the gods I heard: "It's time to show them what Percy Jackson can do. Let's hope he'll share his history with the demigods..."

Apollo spread out his head and started talking about the competition rules. I didn't hear anything. I was too worried running out of the dining pavilion towards Percy. The first place I'll look?

The sea.

Percy's P.O.V

I splashed into the cold ocean, sinking down to the deepest end. I sat there, my head in my hands. Recalling the past... Mum... School... Gabe... Fire... Smoke... Healing...

Oh gods. I bit my lip, hard as I sat there in the bottom of the ocean.

Alone and hyperventilating.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 : The Cave**

 **

Chapter 3

Annabeth's P.O.V

I ran towards the sea, thoughts swirling around my head. Why did Percy look so, I don't know? Scared?

I don't think it's about...that's place. So what is it? I reached the ocean and started calling out Percy's name. After about an hour, I got tired.

Sitting down on the sand, I thought what would get Percy out of the ocean. And then the answer struck me like Thalia striking an enemy with lighting. Without the pain obviously.

What was Percy's fatal flaw? Loyalty. Loyalty to who? His friends especially, his girlfriend he fell into that place for.

I stood up, smirking and shouted, "PERCY HELP! I NEED YOU!"

Percy's P.O.V

Breathe Percy. Breathe in, breathe out.

I tried to calm myself down by thinking about my friends, my dad, my mum, camp and most importantly, Annabeth. But I couldn't control myself and I had a flashback.

-FLASHBACK-

3rd person P.O.V

A six year old boy with messy pitch black hair sat crisscross on his bed. He was holding a guitar, two times as big as him.

Six year old Percy placed the guitar on the floor and walked out his room to the living room. Looking around, he made sure his stepfather was not in the house.

Who was his stepfather? Smelly Gabe of course.

Six year old Percy's worried face lit up into a cheerful one as he scurried back into his room. Placing the guitar in his hands, small Percy played a sad song on his guitar, too well for a normal six year old boy.

He cleared his throat as he began to sing a heartbreaking song filled with emotions, all coming out of his mouth. It was extraordinary. No normal boy would be able to sing that well, like a clear stream on a spring day.

While Percy was halfway through the song, he was too engrossed to notice the front door of the apartment open. All of a sudden, Percy found Gabe standing in front of him. Gabe snatched Percy's guitar.

The guitar he saved up for years just to buy.

"NO!" Little Percy managed to scream just before Gabe smashed the guitar against Percy's little head. Percy's head was bleeding but all he cared about was his guitar.

Tears began to form in his eyes, before Percy knew what he was doing, he kicked his stepfather.

Right in the you know where.

"YOU PUNK!" Gabe lashed out at Percy and grabbed Percy's hair and brought him into the living room.

"No, no, no!" Percy continuously screamed and kicked. He knew what was going to come. Every time Gabe found out he was playing any instrument or even singing, he would do the same horrible punishment before beating Percy up.

Gabe grinned like a maniac before lighting a cigarette on fire before pressing it against Percy's already bruised skin.

Yelping in pain, Percy but Gabe on his arm, earning another lit cigarette pressed onto his skin.

Again.

And again.

Percy collapsed on the floor, breathing heavily. "That'll teach you for playing that music thingy," Gabe spat at Percy before plopping his fat self on the couch and turning on the TV.

Percy, crawled across the floor to the bathroom and turned on the shower before sitting down and letting the cooling water flow all over him.

Suspiciously, the next day when Percy came home and entered him room, he saw a brand new delicate guitar and more instruments.

Weirdly, when Percy played the instruments and Gabe came into his room, every single instrument would disappear into thin air and Percy would find himself sitting at his desk, with his homework in front of him.

-FLASHBACK END-

Percy's P.O.V

I clenched my hands. Open, close, open, close. I breathed steadily and opened my eyes to the calming blue ocean.

I've never really thought about playing any instruments since I came to Camp Half Blood. It just seemed. I don't know.

Weird.

As weird as Zeus not cheating on Hera, which meant super weird.

I sang a song silently under my breath before I heard Annabeth's voice shouting, "PERCY HELP! I NEED YOU!"

Hearing Annabeth calling for my help, I immediately jolted up and burst out of the ocean, landing on the sand. I ran towards Annabeth as fast as Hermes' flying shoes.

"ANNABETH! WHAT'S WRONG?" I exclaimed worriedly. Annabeth stared at me, eyebrows raised and answered really smart, "Huh?"

I rolled my eyes and asked her why she called for help. She stared at me for 3 seconds before bursting out laughing. She doubled over while giggling, "You didn't come out of the ocean when I called you for 1 hour so the only way to get you out was probably to make you think I was in trouble..."

I pretended to pout at her. "Annie..."

She flipped her head towards me and glared. "What did you just ca-" Before she could finish, I pushed her into the ocean and dragged her down with me to a secret cave I found.

Making an air bubble around us, I led her inside the cave. The cave was decorated beautifully with one of a kind gems.

Annabeth stood there, her mouth hanging wide open before I closed the cave door shut and pressed a button which allowed all the water in the cave to disappear.

"How...how..." Annabeth managed to mutter. I cheekily grinned at her, "Like the cave wise girl? I decorated it all by myself!"

I forgot to mention, in the cave I had a king size bed, a 20 inch TV set with every single gaming console, a beanbag, food obviously and a desk.

Most importantly were the pictures. Surrounding the room were pictures of every happy moment I spent with Camp, my friends, my family and Annabeth.

Annabeth's beautiful grey eyes scanned the room, looking at every single detail. "I didn't know you could be so.. Neat!" She said before flying around the room, looking at everything up close.

All of a sudden, she stopped right at a black and white picture. Staring close at it, she touched it with her hand. "P..p...percy, what's this?" She looked at me eyes wide.

"What's wha-" I managed to say before I realised what she was looking at. It was a beautiful black and white picture with Annabeth and me laughing and holding each other's hands.

The problem with the picture?

It was not a picture. It was a drawing.

Done by me.

My face visibly paled before I snatched the drawing off the wall. "That was nothing..." I whispered before throwing it into my cupboard.

Annabeth stared at me in shock before her face turned into a frown. "I'm pretty sure that wasn't a nothing Seaweed Brain. That was a drawing and a beautiful one in fact! The signature though..." Her face scrunched up, thinking.

My palms were sweaty. Did she have enough time to see the signature? Oh gods I hope she did no-

"That drawing. It had your signature on it!" She shouted, surprised. Placing her hands on her hips, she glared at me fiercely, like a hellhound about to pounce on a demigod.

Running my hand through my messy hair, I nodded my head, suddenly interested in my shoes.

"Percy! That was an amazing drawing! It looked so real! Show it to me again, right now!" Annabeth gushed before rushing to my cupboard opening it up.

"NO! Wise girl!" I shouted but it was too late.

Standing there, looking inside my cupboard was a shocked Annabeth. Staring at every single drawing I stuffed into there.

**


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 : The Hunters of Artemis**

Annabeth's P.O.V

When I saw all the drawings in Percy's cupboard, my grey eyes widened. The drawings were all so real! They all looked like pictures taken with a camera.

I gasped, "Percy! These drawings are so lifelike! So real! Why haven't you shared these with all of us?" Percy stared at me with his sea green eyes, gulping.

"Do you trust me Wise Girl?" He asked, fingering his Camp necklace. "With my life," I truthfully answered. "Then please don't tell anyone! I... I had a bad experience with showing my drawings to people..."

Before I could ask him why, he pleaded with me while enlarging his eyes. "Please Wise Girl... Please?" He pouted, sticking his bottom lip out. I sighed in defeat, he looked just like a baby seal.

I waved my hand while he grinned, thanking me. All of a sudden, we heard the conch horn blare two times. That meant a god or maybe the gods were here.

"Come on Seaweed Brain! Let's go!" I could NOT afford to be late, I was Annabeth Chase, I am never late especially when there are gods.

Sprinting out of the cave, Percy placed an air bubble around us and willed the water to burst us out of the ocean.

We landed on the sand and sprinted as fast as we could to the dining pavilion.

Thalia's P.O.V (Bet u didn't expect that)

I started my day off pretty normal. Wake up all the hunters by shocking them with electricity, running as fast as I could while laughing when they chased me.

Except one thing. Artemis came out of her tent looking aggravated. She was in her 18 year old form which meant she was very angry.

Immediately, all the hunters stopped running before Phoebe punched me in the gut. Like the saying goes, a violent family is a happy family.

What are you frowning at? I'm pretty sure it's a saying.

Anyway, Artemis stood in front of us, balling her fists tightly before punching the tree next to her. By punching, I mean breaking the tree's bark.

The hunters immediately straightened up and placed their arms behind their back. An angry Artemis is not a good Artemis.

"Milady, what is wrong..." I gulped as she looked at me in the eyes. "What is wrong? WHAT IS WRONG!" She shouted angrily and the hunters looked at me with pity.

"I WILL TELL YOU WHAT IS WRONG! MY IDIOTIC BROTHER APOLLO DECIDED TO HAVE A SINGING COMPETITION AND THE HUNTERS, ROMANS AND GREEKS ARE REQUIRED TO PARTICIPATE!" Phoebe mustered up some courage before replying, "Can't we like not participate?"

She glare at Phoebe, causing her to flinch and stare at her shoes. Artemis gritted her teeth and took out her bow and arrow and shot something in the sky. A figure plummeted through the sky towards Artemis' side.

That's when we realised the figure was Apollo. Apollo crashed into the dirt head first and we all couldn't help but laugh. Especially Artemis. She continued shooting arrows at Apollo as he quickly got up and took shelter behind us.

"That's just low, hiding behind my hunters but what should I expect you ARE LOW!" Artemis screamed and kicked at the place where the sun doesn't shine on Apollo.

"OW!" Apollo shrieked like a girl and all of us howled in laughter. Wiping tears from my eyes, I asked Artemis, "So, why can't we not participate?"

Instead of Artemis answering, Apollo got up and flashed right in front of my face. "That's cause I, the smartest god in like creation, had a plan! I borrowed Artemis' sacred bow and I won't return it unless you all participate in my fantastic competition!" Apollo grinned, expecting us to cheer and compliment him.

"Hunters... ATTACK APOLLO!" I screamed before shooting Apollo with lightning bolts from the sky. Apollo yowled and shrieked like a girl as we shot him with arrows everywhere and I summoned more lightning bolts to strike him.

How could he 'borrow' (note the sarcasm) Artemis' scared bow? You may be thinking what's so important about this bow but this is Artemis' SACRED BOW we are talking about. If anyone steals her Sacred Bow, Artemis can't ride her moon chariot and if she can't ride her moon chariot, it will be sunny forever!

Night is the time when Artemis is the strongest, if she goes one night without her riding her chariot, she will lose some of her immortality. Artemis screamed a battle cry before we charged in with our swords, beating Apollo to a pulp.

After a while, Apollo called his sun chariot and crawled across the floor towards it and ate some ambrosia which healed him. "Give me one good reason why I should not tell my hunters to attack you!" Artemis growled like a wolf about to pounce on its prey.

Apollo and Artemis argued telepathically, not allowing us to hear the conversation. The hunters hated it when Artemis did that but it was apparently to keep the young hunter's minds supposedly fresh.

Sighing in defeat, Artemis faced us and motioned her hand towards Apollo's sun chariot. As we climbed on board Apollo's chariot, each of the hunters either scowled or glared at him. When I was going to get onto the chariot, Apollo took my hand gently in his.

"May I?" He asked while wiggling his eyebrows. The hunters and Artemis were about to pounce on him but I gave them an evil smirk, signalling that I was about to do something. "You shall..." I answered as girly as I could.

All the hunters' eyes widened at me, they were shocked that I could act so well. I gave them a smirk before focusing on Apollo about to kiss my hand. When his lips were barely 1cm apart from my hand, I sent electricity to his lips and into his whole body

"OWWW!!!" Apollo shrieked as we all howled in laughter. Artemis smirked before whispering with venom dripping in her voice. "You better get us to Camp as quick as you can and give me back my scared bow too brother dear..." Apollo gulped and nodded his head like a bobble head and dashed to the driver seat to bring us to Camp Half Blood.

I reclined in my seat, placing my legs up on the seat in front of me I closed my eyes. Proud of shocking Apollo but mostly to not look out the chariot and start screaming about my fear of heights.

Phoebe's P.O.V (I'm full of surprises)

When we arrived at the foot of Camp Half Lame-o, we greeted the girls with smiles and glared at the boys.

All of a sudden, we noticed the two heroes of two main prophecies running towards us. Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson.

Percy Jackson. The only boy probably in the whole universe the hunt has come to respect and fear. We heard of the many heroic deeds he has done and instead of boasting like a normal boy, he always humbly says the same things like, "I had help" or "I wasn't the only one who did it"

He was the opposite of all males we, the hunters of Artemis, learnt to hate. As they both approached us, Percy knelt down on one knee and respectfully said, "Lady Artemis, The hunters of Artemis..." As he stood up, he had a little twinkle in his eyes.

Annabeth nudged Percy with her shoulder as she pointed at our lieutenant, Thalia Grace. Grinning at them, Thalia rushed forward and grabbed them into a hug before engaging in a conversation with them.

After the Giant war, the hunters spent some time with Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase as Thalia wanted to catch up with both of them. During those months, we got to understand the couple better and what they have both been through. Also, every night at the campfire, they would tell about their heroic deeds and Percy would blush whenever we stared amazed at him.

I formed a brother-sister bond with Percy by accident. All of a sudden I was sucked into a flashback

-FLASHBACK-

3rd Person P.O.V

It was early in the morning, the sun was rising and nothing or no one was awake except one girl. Phoebe was walking in the woods, it was her turn today to hunt for breakfast and she was planning to do her very best.

Usually she wouldn't care any less but she had a bet with Thalia and she could not afford to lose 20 drachmas. As she jumped from tree to tree, she suddenly heard a noise, like a monster getting killed. Using her hunting skills, Phoebe leaped to the direction of the sound and found herself looking at something she will never forget.

There was a huge camp of monsters, roughly around 50 monsters but that wasn't what she was shocked at. She was shocked seeing a boy swirling through the monsters, stabbing them one at a time skilfully.

The boy dodged every attack and killed every monster until there was nothing but golden dust everywhere on the ground.

Gasping, she realised the boy was Percy Jackson, she had heard so much about his sword fighting skills but always doubted it but now she knew how he fought. It wasn't as good as others said, no, it was a million times better. What surprised her though was that he was not even breaking a sweat.

He stood there, his back straight and sea green eyes swirling with emotions, she swore she saw sadness and anger. His chest rippled with muscles. Not too much until it disgusted you but enough to make him look terrifying.

His height of 7ft tall made him even more scary but what scared her the most were the scars. There were scars behind his back and torso, claw marks, came marks, teeth marks, you name it they were all on him.

Phoebe's hands flew to her mouth as she saw his scars which were a mistake. Swirling his head towards Phoebe, Percy raised his eyebrows as he approached her. "How long have you been standing there?" Percy asked with gentleness.

"Enough to see you kill every single monster. How do you kill them so fast?" Phoebe asked curiously, tilting her head to one side. Percy leaned against a tree while putting his hands in his jean pockets. He sighed as he ran his hands through his messy black hair. Percy then proceeded to tell Phoebe that he was having a dream about all his friends dying before his eyes and most importantly Annabeth.

He said he then woke up, having a feeling there were monsters near by so he just ran out of his tent into the woods. "Now that I've finished my story, what are you doing here?" Percy grinned lopsided.

"I had a bet with Thalia worth 20 drachmas. If I can cook and kill more animals than her, I get the drachmas but I see no animals in the distance..." Phoebe rambled as she slid her back against the tree trunk. Percy grinned evilly before declaring, "I'll help you! Anything to get Pinecone Face embarrassed cos she shocked me yesterday in the early morning!"

Phoebe raised her eyebrow uncertainly, sure Percy Jackson could fight well but could he hunt well? Percy nodded his head, signalling Phoebe to follow him before he shot off into the trees, jumping with such gracefulness and agility that Phoebe almost mistook him for a tiger.

For one hour, Percy and Phoebe managed to kill at least 15 animals, all large size! Thalia only managed to catch 5 but the problem was cooking. "You are amazing at hunting Percy! You killed like 10 of the animals!" Phoebe praised Percy as he grinned sheepishly.

"Nah, you hunted most of it..." Percy humbly answered. Phoebe rolled her eyes at Percy. 'This male is too... Humble...' Phoebe thought. Then Phoebe jerked up alarmed. "Oh gods... Oh no..." She mumbled again and again.

Percy worriedly asked her what was wrong and she stared at him in the eyes and replied, "I just remembered that part of the bet was also whoever can cook the best! I can't cook anything! I always burn the food! I'm gonna lose 20 drachmas..." Phoebe wailed.

Percy stared at her, determination in his eyes. "No, you won't lose, I swore I'd never cook again but I'll help you to cook just swear on the river Styx to not tell anyone that I cooked the meal!" Before Phoebe could give a smart comment about boys not being able to cook any better than she could, Percy ran into the woods and came out with some leaves.

Gaping, Percy chopped up all the meat and leaves. He cooked the meat and in minutes, he placed all the food on the table. "Remember, I did not cook any of this," Percy winked at Phoebe as he walked to a chair.

Clearing his throat, Percy shouted loudly, "WOW! Look at the amount of food Phoebe caught and it smells amazing!" Slowly, one by one, the hunters came out the tents with the same surprised expression before dashing to the table and gobble up the food.

All the hunters, Artemis and Annabeth complimented Phoebe's cooking and the amount of animals she managed to catch. Just as she was about to tell them it was all Percy, Percy looked at her with a lopsided grin and winked at her.

When Thalia came out, she was so shocked, she stood there as they finished the meal.

"I believe you owe me 20 drachmas," Phoebe giggled as she walked past Thalia towards the archery range.

As she walked to the archery range, Phoebe passed by Percy, whom she gave a high five. "Thanks Master Chef," she whispered as he raised up his eyebrow cheekily. "Master Chef? Me?" Percy grinned as he dashed towards Annabeth who was calling for him.

Laughing, Phoebe strolled to the archery range.

-FLASHBACK END-

Phoebe's P.O.V

Just as I finished my flashback, I heard Percy shouting excitedly while waving his arms like a little kid, "YO! PHOEBE! Come here!"

Dashing towards him with my arms open, he embraced me in a hug. As we finished hugging, he ruffled my hair as I pouted. "How'd you two get so close together?" Thalia asked with her hands on her hips.

At the side, I saw Annabeth looking a bit jealous. "Relax Wise Girl, we've only got a brother-sister relationship, besides you know you're the only one for me," Percy cheesy comment did not make Annabeth look any better but Percy stood in front of her.

Placing his hand behind her head, he leaned in to kiss her. They lovingly kissed each other, I mean I'm no Aphrodite girl but they were the best couple probably in the whole universe.

But guess what?

Apollo had to ruin the moment didn't he?

"PERCY ANNABETH! Glad to see you two! Has anyone told you about the music competition rules? No, they didn't, did they? So basically all Head counsellors in each cabin HAVE to participate! Great? Okay great!" Apollo said in one breath.

Percy stared angrily at Apollo. If looks could kill, Apollo would be dead right now with knives poking out from every part of his body.

"What did you say?" Percy barked at Apollo. Apollo trembled under Percy' glare before realising all the campers were looking at him so he straightened up and loudly replied, "I said all head counsellors in each cabin must participate in the competition! In every category as well!"

Percy roared as summoned a hurricane around him as he took out Riptide, his sword, and began attacking Apollo fiercely. Apollo screamed like a little girl, again, and he didn't even have enough time to block any of Percy's attacks.

"STOP! STOP PLEASE!" Apollo pleaded Percy and gave Annabeth a look. Sighing, Annabeth put a hand on Percy's shoulder and muttered some words into Percy's ear. Percy calmed down but not before shooting Apollo another glare that made him shrink under.

When we saw Apollo clearly, we gasped. He was beaten even worse than the time when all the hunters attacked him. Apollo was bruised black and blue. We expected him to start chopping Percy up into pieces but instead, he sighed and snapped his fingers, making all the cuts disappear.

All of a sudden, Apollo frowned and started nodding his head. "Alright, okay, good..." People near him heard him mutter under his breath before turning to everyone.

"CAMPERS AND HUNTERS! THE MUSIC COMPETITION BEGINS NOW!" Apollo announced as he spread out his arms. Suddenly, we were in the centre of the throne room in Olympus. The gods shrunk down to normal heights and began to hug their children and having conversations with them. But most of the children were shocked by the throne room.

The throne room was beautiful. It was decorated with white marble columns, a huge chandelier attached to the ceiling and the walls of the throne room were changing every minute. One second it would be the adventures of Hercules, that vile male who cheated Zoë Nightshade, our ex lieutenant of the hunt.

Seeing Hercules, all the hunters, Artemis and Percy gritted their teeth.

The next second it was Achilles and his heroic acts. Most importantly, his heel. The list when on and on. Some modern demigods like Jason Grace, Piper McLean, Leo Valdez, Annabeth Chase, Nico Di Angelo, Will Solace, basically all the demigods and hunters who helped in the titan war or the giant wall.

Finally, it came to Percy Jackson. The wall did not show about his past, unlike all the others but it showed all his heroic deeds. Compared to the other heroes, demigods and hunters deeds, his were the most. The wall didn't even have enough space to show all the heroic deeds so his time on the wall was longer than others.

When the hunters and demigods saw this, everyone stared at him, mouths wide open while he blushed uncontrollably and tried to hide his face.

"OKAY ENOUGH CHIT CHAT!" Zeus bellowed. Zeus nudged Apollo and Apollo walked to the front and snapped his fingers.

Behind him appeared a huge stage with a screen on the stage, colourful flashing lights and red curtains. We all found ourselves sitting in cinema red velvet chairs, each row higher than the first.

Popcorn and drinks appeared in front of us and Apollo flashed onto the stage with a DJ like booth in front of him. "Let the music competition begin!" Apollo spoke into his microphone and cheers were heard.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 : Clarisse and Pink Dresses**

Apollo's P.O.V

I snapped my fingers and all the lights in the throne room turned off and the only light was coming from the stage and Hestia's fire.

I carefully scanned through the crowd, deciding who to choose. I was obviously going to save the best for last which was the seven demigods. Suddenly, it came to me like Zeus striking me with his master bolt when I told on him to Hera.

"Clarisse (Tell me in the comments below if I spelt it wrong) La Rue! Head counsellor of Ares cabin! Come on up!" I eagerly replied an everyone cheered loudly, especially the Ares cabin. The clashed their weapons and roared their encouragement which consisted of:

"GO CLARISSE! POUND THAT APOLLO ON THE HEAD IF HE MAKES YOU EMBARRASSED!"

"SING A TORTURE SONG!"

"CAN YOU STAB SOMEONE IN THE CROWD WHILE DANCING?!?!"

"DRAW A BLOODY WAR CLARISSE!"

I glared at them all but they either just shot murderous looks at me or sharpened their swords while pointing them at me. I gulped and turned to Ares and started arguing with him telepathically.

"Your children are horrible, can't you keep them calm?" I gritted my teeth while shooting a glare at Ares. Ares laughed loudly and answered back, "My children are perfectly fine! How about yours you punk?"

Before I could shoot back a remark to Ares, Clarisse stood in front of me, hands crossed and frowning at me.

"Are we gonna get this over and done with or what?" She growled at me as she snatched the microphone in my hands when I was about to give it to her.

"Sheesh..." I muttered under my breath. "What song will you be singing Clarisse and the song has to be dedicated to someone!" I questioned and exclaimed at the same time while smirking evilly at her.

She stood there, balling her fists and growled at me, "Heart Attack by Demi Lovato. For... My boyfriend, Chris Rodriguez."

Aphrodite and her children squealed and cheered as Chris and Clarisse blushed as red as a tomato. I nodded at her and started playing the song.

But you, make me wanna act like a girl! Paint my nails and wear high heels, yes you make me so nervous that I just can't hold your hand!" Clarisse sang the chorus as most people covered their ears from her screeching singing but Chris stared at her, transfixed while drooling.

I showed on the huge screen a flashback with Clarisse and Chris.

-FLASHBACK-

Clarisse's P.O.V

Running in the Labyrinth, my heavy breathing echoing. I looked behind me, checking if the monsters were still there.

I am Clarisse La Rue, I am scared of nothing. I chanted in my head over and over again.

Leaning against the wall, I panted heavily and placed my head in my hands. "Oh gods... Why did I come here..."

Suddenly, at the corner of my eye I saw light.

Normal sunlight.

Gasping, I ran towards it, excited. If it was sunlight, it meant an escape from this evil place. I looked up and saw an escape, with trees and chirping of birds.

Jumping and grabbing the edge of the escape, I pulled myself up and fell onto grass. I breathed in the scent of fresh grass and sighed. Looking at the sun, I could have never been happier.

I was out! Of the labyrinth! I was lucky I was still alive.

After a few minutes, I finally got off the grass and dusted my torn jeans. Looking up, my brown eyes widened in fear and shock.

"Seriously? This place! The exit of the labyrinth had to be here didn't it?" I shouted at no one at particular. Before I could dash out of the place, I heard a familiar voice, a voice I never wanted to hear again.

"Clarisse?" I turned around and faced my worst nightmare.

Balling my fists and hardening my eyes, I managed to choke out, "Hello mother. Long time no see."

There stood my mother, thin and beautiful with curly brown hair pinned up in a bun while she wore a revealing baby pink dress.

My mother.

My worst nightmare.

She was everything I did and did not want to be. She was beautiful and was a famous model but no one at Camp matched her and me together due to the different looks.

My mother had curly brown hair and bright sparkling brown eyes. She wore fur coats, pink dresses, 6 inch high heels and carried Prada bags.

I was the complete opposite. I had a slightly curly brown hair and fierce brown eyes. I wore tattered jeans and liked to shred my Camp Half-Blood shirt. I always tied a messy ponytail and wore old converse shoes. I carried my weapon, Maimer wherever I went.

"Oh darling! I missed you so," my other gushed as she poked me in the arm. I rolled my eyes at her. My mother never truly loved me.

When she found out I was a violent girl with a burning passion for getting into fights, she would always cane me.

"Why can't you be more like me? Why can't you be girly?" She would always shriek at me and cane me before sending me up to my room.

She made me dress in pink girly dresses and before I went off the school everyday, she would tell me, "Remember darling, be girly!"

Anyway, my mother looked disgusted by my torn clothes. "Too much muscle... Like a man, you'll never get a boyfriend like that,"

At that, I frowned. Would...he like me if I was more girly? I shook my head, who cares what other people think? Except I cared about what he thought about me...

I recalled my past with my mother, she had no affection or love for me. She was always either scolding me for being too boyish or caning me.

"Come, let's go in and give you a bath and change you into some nice clean clothes!" She pointed at her mansion and ushered me into the front door.

Everything was the same when I ran away, pictures of my mother hung in every corner of the house. It was like the Aphrodite cabin but worst.

"Come, take a bath darling," my mother brought me into the toilet and gave me shampoo, conditioner and some body soap.

I shrugged, I needed a bath anyways. Usually I would be all about stinky and gross but after smelling the odour from my body I stepped into the bath and relaxed.

As I got out of the bath, I realised my mother did not give me anything to change into. I wore my Camp Half-Blood shirt and my dirty old jeans again and ventured the house.

I looked inside my old bedroom, it was still the same. Black wallpaper and an old drum kit sat in one corner. The homework I was doing that day when I ran away was still sitting there.

Everything was untouched, I saw the mouldy old pizza I ordered and left under my bed still there. I looked inside my closet, and found a T-shirt that used to be baggy but now fitted perfectly.

The T-shirt had the words 'Shut up or die punk' on it which I thought was great. I found an old torn leather jeans in my closet too and wore it. It had silver chains around the pockets, handy if I crossed werewolves or something.

I sighed and walked around my old bedroom. I took a military green backpack and put in some extra clothes, a pack of chewing gum, my drachmas, a bottle full of water and some food.

I slung the backpack over my shoulder as I walked out the front door. I dashed to the car garage and opened it. There were so many cars!

A Mercedes, a Porsche, a Maserati and a Bentley! I opened the car door of the Bentley and hopped inside. And sure enough, the key was in the driver's compartment.

I started the engine and drove out of the mansion, my old home once again. I was speeding past the Labyrinth exit when I slammed the breaks.

I paled while my eyes enlarged.

There he was.

The one I told everyone that I was going on a secret mission for.

Standing there in a daze was Chris Rodriguez, my long time and only crush from Camp Half-blood. Wen I noticed him missing when it was announced that Luke Castellan was evil, I knew he joined the other side.

He was walking around, while giggling. I slowly got out of the car and approached him.

"Chris?" I uncertainly asked him.

His eyes were all white as he stared at me. "No... NO!" He shouted while clutching his head. I immediately approached him and shook him.

"Chris? CHRIS!" I shouted. He looked at me and whimpered. He then collapsed on the floor, falling on top of me. I managed to scream before his body thumped against mine.

His eyes glazed over and it became his normal mischievous looking eyes. "Clarisse? Oh gods..." He muttered before he fainted with his lips pressed against mine.

His lips were soft and hard at the same time. I closed my eyes before realising what I was doing. I was making use of him. He may not even love me.

I threw him off of me and immediately got up. Trembling, I got into the car and parked right next to him. I pulled his arm and pushed him into the passenger seat of the car.

Dusting my hands, I sat in the driver's seat and revived the engine.

"I... I love you..." I heard him mummer under his breath.

I looked in the rear mirror and saw his handsome face. His rough features and sharp jaw line and his dark skin.

The mischievous twinkle in his eyes whenever he looked at me and the butterflies that would rise in my stomach when I saw him.

Gods, he was handsome. But he could love some other girl.

A girl that wasn't violent and looked like a boy.

A girl that was pretty as a princess, with straight blonde hair and wasn't violent.

A girl that wasn't me.

A tear rolled down my face and I wiped it off with the sleeve of my shirt. It did not matter. If he didn't love me, that was expected. I was the opposite of a girl.

Heaving a heavy sigh, I concentrated on the road and continued driving. And did not look back at him.

-FLASHBACK END-

Chris' P.O.V

When I heard Clarisse's thoughts, I was touched. She loved me, right from the start. Even when I thought how could a perfect girl like her, who could stand up for herself, love me even when I was bad?

I looked at her and a grin spread across my face. Even when she was pounding me, with her hair oily and her face glistening with sweat, she was still beautiful.

As I leaned back, thinking she was going to punch me, she grabbed my face and pulled me in for a kiss.

When we wrapped our arms around each other and deepened the kiss, we heard wolf whistles and cheers. We separated with our foreheads touching and I pulled her to sit on my lap.

She punched my chest hard before curling up while she still held my neck.

"That was interesting... Thank you Clarisse and now we shall have..." Apollo winked as drum-rolls were heard in the background.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 : Will and his Tears**

Will's P.O.V

Today was the day. It was a day where I had to fake a smile, be cheerful all the time and enjoy life. I knew she would want that. But deep down inside, I blamed myself.

I blamed myself for her death, if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be happy or alive.

She sacrificed herself.

For me, this useless dump.

She could have lived. It was all my fault.

Biting my lip, tears started to form in my eyes blurring my vision. Nico looked at me from the side, concerned.

Placing his hand on mine, he softly whispered, "Hey, what is wrong sunshine?" I sniffled and grabbed his hand tightly, turning his knuckles white.

I expected him to yowl in pain and ask me what my problem was.

But he didn't.

That's how good he was at being a boyfriend. I closed my eyes shut and steadied my breathing. "You'll find out soon..." I muttered softly so only he could hear.

He nodded his head and placed his head on my shoulder while drawing circles on my hand. "We shall now have our next contestant! Anyone wants to volunteer?" Dad boomed.

All the hands in the Apollo cabin went up as fast as the speed of lightning but my hand shakily rose in the air. Dad looked at me with sadness and pity in his eyes.

I didn't want his pity.

Pity wouldn't bring her back.

"Will, my son, come on up..." Dad sighed while gripping the table of the DJ booth hard. I shakily stood up and approached the stage, one foot at the time.

"What would you like to perform?" Dad asked me kindly.

"Singing and playing the guitar," I whispered softly in the microphone and immediately all heads turned to me. It was rare to find an Apollo kid down.

Especially me as most of the time I was the most happiest and optimistic kid in the Apollo cabin. A familiar wooden guitar appeared in my hands. It was the same design and everything.

Was this guitar hers?

I timidly looked up at Dad and he said kindly in my mind, "Happy early birthday kid. That was her guitar. She told me to tell you to never give up and it wasn't your fault," A small smile appeared on my face.

Even in death, she still cared about me, not herself. At least she landed in Elysium, she deserved it. She was the best person I ever met.

"I am going to sing 'If I die young' by The Band Perry for... my... my mother," I managed to choke out before strumming the guitar.

"If I die young, bury me in satin. Lay me down on a bed of roses," my clear voice rang out with mixed emotions heard.

Sadness for her dying.

Anger for the monsters.

And guilt for her sacrificing her life to get me safely into Camp Half-Blood.

The screen behind me showed a flashback of her, my beautiful mother.

My selfless mother.

-FLASHBACK-

Will's P.O.V

We were running, hand clasped together. Fearing for our lives, we ducked into the cave as the monsters ran past us.

My heavy breathing echoed in the cave. Tears dripped down my face as I flung myself onto my mother and tears stained her bright yellow shirt.

"Shh... It's okay my sun. Everything will be fine," my mother's soothing voice filled my ears and I immediately calmed down.

My mother made a cosy fireplace as we wrapped ourselves in an old blanket, cuddling next to each other. "Sun, do you know what day it is?" My mother gently stroked my head.

I thought hard, we had left California once the monster entered our house. That was 1 month ago, so if I did my math correctly...

"It's my birthday?" I asked. She nodded her head while her pearly white teeth shone. It didn't feel like a special day. We were being chased down by monsters and we were starving and scared.

"Happy Birthday Sun! Mama has some good news. We will reach the safe place for you by tomorrow morning and we'll be safe!" My mother sang. I grinned wide

No more monsters chasing us down as long as we were in that safe place? That was probably the best thing I heard. My mother took out her guitar from her bag and started strumming it while singing gently the song 'Titanium by David Guetta and Sia'.

As she finished the song, her warm voice and smile suddenly made me feel we were home again, safe from the monsters.

"I love you sun," my mother brushed her nose against mine. Before I could answer back, the monster appeared in front of us. Our eyes widened as we got up as quick as lightning and grabbing my mum's guitar, we dashed out of the cave.

Sprinting across the forest, we heard heavy steps behind us. My bright blonde hair flew through the air as we ran. Finally, we saw light coming behind a large pine tree.

"Quickly sun, it's right there! The safe place is where the light is!" My mother shouted as she pushed me through the barrier.

"Mum? Why aren't you coming in the safe place?" I shouted as my mum had tears in her eyes. She sobbed and wiped her tears away with her sleeve.

"Mum? Mum! Get in! The monster is right behind you!" I frantically cried out

"I can't go in Will. I'm not a demigod, I'm a normal mortal!" My mother shakily replied. I cried for help before turning back to her. I stepped out of the border as the monster appeared. "If you can't get in, I'm not going in," I confidently replied and stood next to her.

She looked at me with tears in her eyes, her face visibly pale and blood pouring from her left arm. Since when did her left arm start bleeding?

"Will, promise me you will not give up on life." My mum firmly replied.

"But mum-" I shook uncontrollably as the monster neared us.

"Promise me!" My mother shouted while tears streamed down her face. Before I could reply, the monster charged towards us and she pushed me into the safe place.

"NO MUM!" I cried out as hot tears welled up in my eyes and blurred my eyesight

"I love you Will. You have always been my sun," my mother choked out before turning her head towards the monster and slowly closing her eyes.

"MUM! NO MUM!" I shouted with all my might. People finally ran from my side, towards my mother, aiding her to kill the monster

As the monster vaporised into gold dust, I shakily approached the body lying on the ground. Facing the face of the body, time seemed to slow down. The face was bleeding all over the place but behind it, you could see a beautiful face that held warm blue eyes that brightened up a certain kid's day.

"Mum... No... MUM!" I shouted out as I dropped on my knees. Cradling my mum's head in my hands, I wailed out a sound of anguish, anger and sadness.

Blinking back my tears, I chanted again and again, "Please come back. Please come back. Please come back." Suddenly I couldn't take it anymore, I let out all the sadness in me.

Rain started to pour heavily from the sky, as if the gods were angry too.

"I love you too mum," I managed to choke out before blacking out.

-FLASHBACK END-

Nico's P.O.V

As campers and gods stared at the screen from Will's memory. Some campers were bawling their eyes out while other tougher campers lips were trembling.

Aphrodite cried loudly as her make up ran down her face. She dabbed her eyes and buried her head in Hephaestus' shoulders. Ares looked at everyone and sniffled a bit.

And me

I was a wreck. I cried out for my boyfriend. I cried out for his pain, his suffering, his sadness, his guilt, his anger. I knew all those feelings when I watched my own mother die

Shadow travelling next to Will, I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tightly. Kissing his nose, I looked up into his blue eyes and whispered,

"It wasn't your fault Sunshine. It never was," He nodded his head and we walked hand in hand back to our seats.

He numbly sat down as I curled up in my seat and placed my head on his shoulder. After a while, he placed his on top of mine.

I squeezed his hand stroked his hair with my free hand. He placed his hand on my thigh as he cried softly in my hair.

"Let's have a break, shall we Apollo?" Poseidon asked with concern in his voice. Apollo nodded his head numbly and turned on all the lights in the throne room

"1 hour break everyone and we will continue," Apollo choked out before dropping his microphone and running over to Will and me.

He embraced us in a hug and cried with his son. Three of us hugged each other, heads touching and tears dripping down our cheeks.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 : Break time with Princess Leona**

Percy's P.O.V  
Looking at the crying group, consisting of Will, Apollo and Nico, I blinked back a few tears myself. I knew the pain Will felt. When my mum was caught by Hades, I felt so mad. Mad at the gods. Mad at myself for being a demigod. I also felt guilt and sadness. When I was on the quest, I blamed myself for not being strong enough to beat the minator in time.

Sighing, I realized life was too short for regrets. I played with Annabeth's fingers and gestured to the door. I needed to go outside for some fresh air. I pulled Annabeth out of her chair and walked down the stairs, hand in hand, to the open door.

Walking out out of the throne room, I breathed in the smell of ambrosia and nectar. Walking in silence for a few minutes, I finally broke the silence. "Wise Girl?"

Annabeth looked up at me and nodded her head, telling me to go on. "I know you want to know why I kept my drawing skills a secret." I stopped her and looked at her in the eyes.

She looked at me with those wide beautiful grey eyes. I pulled her onto a bench and sat her on my lap. Sighing, she admitted she did want to know why.

"I can't talk about it now. It involves my past. I know, keeping secrets isn't good for a relationship but... I just need time. Besides, that Apollo would probably show it on that flashback screen." I huffed.

Annabeth nodded understandingly. "We all have secrets don't we?" She admitted, biting her lip. I placed my hand tenderly on her cheek and the other hand tilting her head up for her lips to meet mine. Our lips touched but that cursed Leo Valdez had to ruin it, didn't he?

"Hey lovebirds! Get a room!" Leo shouted cheekily with Jason, Piper, Calypso, Frank, Hazel and Thailia behind him. Annabeth and I immediately jerked. "Valdez..." I warned with a playful frown on my face. He visibly paled and gulped. "1... 2... 3..." I counted down as Leo took off in a direction.

After a few seconds, I came back with Leo, under my arm, squirming to get free. I set him down on the floor and used the water from the pond next to us to make 'ropes' to bind him. "I take it that Leo spoils a lot of romantic moments with you?" I asked Calypso.

She sighed and nodded her head while crossing her arms. I plopped down next to Annabeth and slung my arm over her shoulder. She moved closer to me and pecked me on the cheek. The others sat down and laughed at Leo as he tried to use his fire powers to distinguish the water.

"Hey guys! Wanna see a little play?" I playfully asked as everyone cheered. Thalia looked at me, smirking with an eyebrow raised. I mouthed to her 'torture plan number 74'. When Annabeth and I stayed at the Hunters of Artemis' camp, Thalia and I bonded even closer and came up with a list consisting with a 100 torture plans. We both swore on the Styx not to use it on each other and only on annoying people like, I don't know, Leo.

Thalia stood up and walked over to Leo. "Once upon a time, there was a princess called... Uh... Leona? Yes! Leona!" She proudly announced as she shot a look at Piper and Piper immediately took out a little pink ball. If any Aphrodite child threw the pink ball at someone's feet, that person would have loads of make up on their face and a big puffy pink dress.

Mostly the lazy Aphrodite girls used the ball to get ready everyday. Apparently the amount of makeup the ball put on people's faces were considered beautiful for them. Obviously, Piper never used the ball but the Aphrodite girls had a daily amount given to them. Kinds like a daily allowance.

Anyway, Piper threw the ball at Leo and he managed to scream a very mortal girly scream. The pink cloud cleared and Leo stood there in a big pink poofy dress, a pair of six inches high heels, loads of make up on his face and a load curly blonde wig. There was silence for 10 seconds before everyone started rolling on the floor, pointing and laughing at him so hard till tears came out.

After a solid 15 minutes of laughing at Leo we settled down but laughed occasionally at him. Suddenly I had a thought. "Hey guys, if Leo, I mean Princess Leona looks as good as she looks," I started and Annabeth coughed out, "Cough, which she doesn't, cough," Leo was still confused about how he looked like.

"Will she sound as good as she looks?" I finished as everyone straightened up, staring at me with wide eyes. "What?" I obliviously asked. "That's one of the smartest things you have ever said!" Jason spluttered out before I wrapped him in a casing of water and freeze it into ice. I forgot to mention, over the past few months, I managed to learn how to control the three forms of water. I could now control water vapor, water and ice.

"Anyone else?" I innocently asked as I formed a 10 inches long ice blade in my hand. Everyone, except Annabeth, paled and shook their heads. "I thought so," I smugly answered before giving Annabeth a peck on the lips. I unfroze Jason and shot him a playful glare which he flinched to.

"So... Are we gonna try and get Princess Leona to talk?" Calypso questioned with a smirk spreading on her face. Everyone else eagerly nodded as they looked at me. "So I have to do it?" I frowned as they all nodded. I thought for a moment and an evil grin spread a crossed my face. Everyone scooted a bit further from me as I stood up.

"Princess Leona was walking in the palace garden when suddenly... A huge dragon appeared!" I shouted as I shaped the water vapor in the air to form into a huge dragon, the height of a 20 story building. Everyone stared at the dragon, then me, then the dragon.

Shouts of 'cool' and 'it looks so real' was heard as I grinned smugly. I made the dragon move and breathe ice onto Princess Leona's face. Leo stared at it with wide eyes before screaming like a mortal girl and shrieking in a high pitched voice, "Get the dragon away from me! Ahhhhh!"

We we all stared in shock at Leo and started laughing hysterically at him again. Suddenly, we all heard Zeus' voice. "BREAK TIME FOR THE ARTS COMPETITION IS OVER! EVERYONE PLEASE PROCEED BACK TO THE THRONE ROOM! THOSE WHO DON'T WILL BE STRIKED BY MY MASTER BOLT!"

We we all got up, not wanting to get striked by Zeus' lightning bolt. I made my water dragon disappear and made the 'rope' around Leo to disappear. "You might want to get cleaned up," I shouted at Leo as Calyso pushed him to the pond to let him look at himself. Leo shrieked like a girl again before Piper gave Calypso a white ball, telling her to throw it at Leo so he'll look back to normal.

"Come on Piper! We've gotta go. Jasper out," Jason pulled Piper and shot off into the air like a blonde superman. "Two can play at that game," I muttered before lifting Annabeth into my arms. "Percabeth out!" I managed to shout before I saw Frank change into a cheetah as Hazel climbed onto his back.

I vapor travelled to the throne room door and reached right before Jason shot down from the sky with Pioer in his arms. I gently put Annabeth down and jogged into the throne room with her holding my hand. "I love you Wise Girl," I whispered to Annabeth as I pecked her on her forehead. She tiptoed and packed me on my forehead too.

"I love you too Seaweed Brain," She looked at me with sparkling grey eyes. I pulled her into a seat next to me and heals her hand, playing with her fingers. Her head lay on my shoulder as she cuddled nearer to me. We sat in a comfortable silence waiting for the competition to resume.

Apollo flashed onto the stage with a grin on his face. How was he happy now when he was sad before? Will and Nico walked into the room with their hands intertwined and sat in the front row, next to Annabeth and me.

"What's made you two so happy?" Annabeth asked with a twinkle in her eyes. Nico and Will looked at each other and peaked each other on the lips. Will scooted closer to Nico and gently placed his head on Nico's.

"Hades decided to do a favor for Will since he was my boyfriend. Will can iris-message his mum ononce a week as long..." Nico said the last part so quietly under his breath that we couldn't hear him. Nico was blushing many shades of red as Will beamed. "Uncle Hades," At this I snickered which Annabeth jabbed me in the ribs for. "Uncle Hades said as long as I don't hurt his son and promise to propose to him and not the other way round,"

At this, Will, Annabeth and I busted out laughing as Nico huffed and his face looked like a puppy not getting his bone. Will ruffled Nico's hair and swung his arm around Nico's shoulders. Will smashed his lips against Nico's as Annabeth and I whistled. "Feisty, eh Will?" I cheekily asked which Nico turned red at but still continued to kiss Will.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 : Poor Ryan and Happy Frank**

Jason's P.O.V  
I lost to Percy. Again. Seriously, I feel something bubbling inside of me ever since I met him. Luckily, I don't feel that feeling that often anymore. Unless he beats me in anything, even an eating competition. I realised what that feeling was after the Giant war.

I, Jason Grace, Son of Jupiter was jealous of Percy Jackson. When I was at Camp Half Blood, the campers were always comparing me to Percy and I was so sick of it. I tried to control the jealousy.

Percy was my friend! Friends don't get jealous at their friends.  
Right?

But I was jealous. My jealousy was so extreme that the first day on the Argo ll, I actually crept into his room, getting my imperial gold spear out.

I actually almost killed him. Luckily, Piper was passing by Percy's room that second. When she saw what I was about to do, she quickly dragged me out of Percy's room into her room. She gave me a scolding and asked me why I did that. I told her the reason.

I was jealous.

That horrible, vile creature inside of me, called jealousy, almost had a life killed. No doubt Piper thought I was a monster that day. But whenever I got jealous of Percy, I breathed steadily and remembered Piper's words:

"Friends don't get that jealous of friends. Family don't get jealous of family. Family means sticking by your family through thick and thin. Jealous of your friend? Horrible. Jealous of you family? Then you aren't really family. You are lying to that person."

I didn't want to be jealous of Percy. I really didn't. But think about it. Percy was the definition of hero. He was strong, caring, humble, funny and always sacrificed himself for his family.

Don't forget his looks. When I first met him, I thought he was a thief. Stealing my praetor role and my friends. He was shorter than me and looked like a little shrimp compared to me.

However after the Giant War, he grew to a shooting height of 7ft. He trained so much that he developed bulging muscles. Not the type of muscles that make people puke but like male model muscles. His windswept raven black hair made him look like a superhero from the ocean. And his eyes. His shimmering emerald green eyes. How could anyone have such beautiful eyes. When he was angry, you could see a hurricane in those eyes. When he was sad, it was an ocean with small polluted waves. When he was happy, they sparkled like diamonds and you could see calm waves and a sunset. I'm not gay but he looked hot, coming from a blonde superman.

As I plopped down on a seat next to Percy, he gave me a grin, his pearl white teeth sparkling before continuing to talk to Nico and Will.

I nodded at him, a smile on my face. Piper cuddled closer to me and I hugged her tightly. I was playing with her hand when I was snapped out of reality when Apollo announced the next contestant.

"Frank Zhang! You're up next. What hidden talents do you have?" Frank was flashed in the middle of the stage as Apollo bombarded him with questions.

Frank blushed many shades of red before saying, "I can sing and play the piano..." Suddenly, a grand piano appeared in front of Apollo.

It was a beautiful transparent piano and you could see what was inside the piano. Percy stared at it with wide eyes and began tapping his thighs. I looked curiously at him before focusing my attention back on Frank.

Frank's mouth was wide open and he gently sat on the chair. He slid his shaky hands over the keys and he took a deep breath, turning towards Apollo, saying, "I would like to sing Jealous by Nick Jonas. This is for you Hazel. I love you,"

Aphrodite and her kids swooned as Hazel blushed as red as a tomato but her gold eyes still stayed focused on Frank. She gave him an encouraging sweet smile and Frank began to sing while playing the piano.

His voice was deep and rich as he sang. He couldn't sing all the high pitch parts of the song, which was expected. Nonetheless, Hazel had a huge smile on her face and a sparkle in her golden-brown eyes.

As Frank sang, "I'm puffing my chest. I'm getting ready to face you, just call me upset." The screen showed a flashback from Frank's view.

-FLASHBACK-

Frank's P.O.V  
I shot Ryan a glare from far away as he flirted with Hazel. He looked at me for a second before continuing to flirt with Hazel.

Hazel who was completely oblivious to his flirting, smiled politely while nodding her head along to what ever he was saying. It wasn't her fault since she grew up in the 1900 where nobody flirted.

Ryan flashed her a grin and kissed her hand before walking away. Hazel walked up to me but I didn't notice since I was burning with anger.

As she reached me, she pecked me on the lips and gave a sweet smile. "Hey Frank. Sorry I'm late. Ryan was talking to me about horses and one thing led to another, we were talking about everyday things!" She noticed my angry demeanour and furrowed her brows. She gently touched me on the arm, "Are you okay Frank?"

I pecked her on her forehead and just nodded before leading her towards a bench. I sat down with her on the bench.

Sighing, I turned to her and looked her in the eye. Hazel was beautiful. She always did and had been but suddenly after the Giant wars, boys in Camp Jupiter were all flirting to chasing after her, especially Ryan.

The other boys instantly stopped flirting and chasing after Hazel when I had a little chat with them but Ryan, he was a difficult one. Even when I shot him a glare, he either waved me off or totally ignored me. To put it simply, I was jealous.

Ryan may not be the praetor of New Rome but he had more qualities in common with Hazel. Hazel gave me a tight hug before looking up to me with her big gold eyes. "Seriously Frank, what's wrong?"

I had to tell her. Maybe she did know that Ryan was flirting with her or maybe... Stop, Frank. She's Hazel, plus she's you're girlfriend. She'd never cheat on you. I scolded myself before sprouting out, "Do you like Ryan?"

She looked surprised by my question but nonetheless, she answered, "Yes. He's a nice guy, he told me about this horse racing competition that's coming up..." Hazel babbled on and on but I wasn't listening.

Hazel liked Ryan. Ryan liked Hazel. I'm in the way of their relationship. Ryan was much better than me.

I felt tears well up in my eyes but I managed to keep them all in. Except for one.

That one darn tear rolled down my cheek and Hazel instantly stopped. I was very unemotional these days after I was elected Praetor. I never allowed my tears to flow down or show my frustration but I had enough.

I wiped the tear off my cheek. Before Hazel could say anything, I held her hands. "Do you like Ryan?" I repeated once again.

She looked confused but she still nodded. I let go off her hands and gave her the last kiss from me on the lips. She was caught off guard but she deepened the kiss as she flung her arms around me.

I let go of her and got off the bench. Hazel gave me a confused look and tried to reach for my hand but I pulled away.

"Frank?" She muttered.

"Goodbye Hazel..." I sniffed but before I could run off, Hazel grabbed my hand and tightened her grip. "Frank, what do you mean by goodbye?"

She seemed puzzled. I averted her gaze but answered, "I mean, goodbye Hazel. I won't get in the way of your new relationship with Ryan." Her mouth hung open, her eyes widening. I would have laughed at her and called her a goldfish but this was weird.

Weren't they both in a relationship? She realised how she looked and recomposed her posture before giggling. What was so funny? We were going to break up.

She continued laughing and I had enough so I shouted out loudly with anger and confusion heard in my voice. She immediately stopped laughing and gently took my hand. She looked up at me as she stroked my cheek.

"Frank, I will never leave you. Even if the whole world is against our relationship, I would never break up with you," she whispered.

In excitement and relief, I cupped her face and smashed my lips onto hers. I quickly realised I may have been too rough with her and quickly softened the kiss. She happily obliged.

After a while, as decided to go to a café for lunch. As we sat down and started chatting at the café, Ryan barged into the café winking and flirting shamelessly at many women but they all seemed disgusted by him.

Hazel looked a bit disgusted herself which was different than usual. Usually she would smile and wave him over but I think she's finally seeing him for his true colours. Hazel gave my hand a squeeze and I nodded.

Ryan approached our table and took a chair before sitting really close to Hazel. I was boiling mad and wanted to punch Ryan's guts out but Hazel winked at me with mischief in her eyes.

Whenever Hazel feels mischievous, it means run. Hazel could be as evil as the Stolls when she's pranking. She batted her eyelashes and started flirting with Ryan as he sat there, cockily flirting back.

My mouth was wide open. How can Hazel flirt? She's from the 1900's. She noticed me looking shocked and mouthed, 'Piper taught me just in case'. I nodded my head uncertainly.

After 30 minutes of flirting, Ryan started leaning in towards Hazel for a kiss. I was about to pounce out of my seat and change into a tiger but Hazel kneed him hard where the sun doesn't shine.

He yowled in pain and shrieked like a small girl as Hazel got up and punched Ryan in the jaw. For good measures, I got up and started throwing punch after punch at him. After he looked very sore and bruise and couldn't stand up, I whispered deadly at him, "Last warning, stay away from MY Hazel or you'll be sorry. Let's just say a lion will be involved..."

He gulped and I took Hazel's hand gently before paying the café waitress an extra amount of drachmas. We took a few steps before Hazel frowned and turned to me.

"You own me?!" She repeated angrily and I dashed off as she chased after me while screaming, "FRANK!"

-FLASHBACK END-

Hazel's P.O.V  
As Frank finished the song, everyone marveled at how good his voice was and his piano skills. Everyone cheered loudly for Frank as he blushed and humbly bowed.

I couldn't contain my excitement and ran towards Frank, tackling him in a hug so tight, he couldn't breathe. "That was great Frank! I never knew you could sing or play the piano!" I gushed while Frank pecked me on the nose.

Giggling, I wrapped my arms around him and looked him in the eyes. "You are mine Frank Zhang. Mine." I stated as he nodded his head. "I am yours," Frank cheesily answered back before lifting me up into his arms, bridle style.

Everyone wolf whistled as we kissed deeply, my hands around Frank's neck. He carried me back to my seat and sat me down on his lap. Our noses touched and at the corner of my eye, I saw Percy getting up his seat, storming towards Ryan.

Percy's P.O.V (Wanted to end here but decided to do a little extra)  
After Frank and Hazel sat down, I got off my seat and told Annabeth I had some unsettled business to do with a certain someone.

She immediately understood.

I marched towards Ryan, rage bubbling inside of me. Frank was like my little, grown too big, brother.

I lifted Ryan up by his collar and in a calm yet deadly tone that carried across the throne room. "You are a despicable person. No, not even a person. You're a monster, shamelessly doing whatever you want..."

Everyone instantly stopped what they were doing and waited for what I was going to do. I punched Ryan hard in the jaw and heard a satisfying crack sound. I kneed him where the sun doesn't shine and dropped him on the floor.

Instantly, everyone started cheering for me with some occasional sentences from Ryan's exs':

"Thank the gods Percy punched him! I can't believe I used to date that cheater!"

"Finally! That guy kept flirting with my girlfriend!"

"Ryan was such a Zeus, always cheating on every girlfriend he had!"

The comments went on and on. I could tell the Apollo Kids from Camp Half Blood and Camp Jupiter didn't like him as well since no one helped to heal him.

Even his own father, who was Ares, just rolled his eyes at his son and grudgingly nodded a thanks to me. As I sat back on my seat, Annabeth grabbed my hand and asked, "Do you think you were a little bit too mean?"

I kissed Annabeth on the nose which made her giggle and held her hands. "Wise girl, that wasn't even considered mean yet," She raised and eyebrow and kissed my cheek. "I know Seaweed Brain," she muttered before we turned out attention back to Apollo, who was announcing the next contestant.


	10. Chapter 9

p style="text-align: center;"span style="text-decoration: underline;"strongChapter 9 : I will never le you down/strong/span/p  
p style="text-align: center;"span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Leo's P.O.V/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"After Percy seriously injured Ryan, I nudged Calypso and whispered, "Hey, can I do something rash to Ryan?" Calypso smirked, which made her look really beautiful with those almond shaped eyes and the twinkle in her eyes./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);""Be my guest," she punched me, hard on the shoulder which was her sign of good luck for me. I got up and walked towards Ryan./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"He was groaning in pain, massaging his jaw and whining like a 5 year old kid. Everyone turned their heads towards me as I shouted, "Hey Ryan! How's it like being kicked and punched by Aqua Boy?"/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"At this, Percy shouted out, "VALDEZ!" But I ignored him./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"I lit my hand on fire and cocked my eyebrow up while grinning. Those who were sitting near Ryan immediately backed away./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"I placed my hand near Ryan's face waiting for the reaction./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"The reaction?/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Ryan shrieking like a little girl as the amazing Supreme Commander of Argo ll lit his hand on fire./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Everyone laughed at Ryan's reaction as his dad, Ares, came up to Ryan and boomed, " I, Ares the amazing warrior in this universe,"/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Cue the snorts and rolling of eyes./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);""Hereby disown Ryan Penelope as my son!" Once everyone heard Ryan's surname, we all doubled over in laughter while clutching our stomachs./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Wiping away my tears I chuckled out, "Ryan Penelope? Penelope? Penelope! Oh gods, no wonder you never said your surname to anyone," but he couldn't hear anything since Ares disowned him and he was no longer a demigod./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"His body disappeared in a mist and this white mist thingy carried all the way out of the throne room, going through the streets of Olympus./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Immediately, everyone cheered and Ryan's ex siblings instantly clashed their weapons together and yelled insults about Ryan./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Finally, everyone settled down and Apollo was grumbling something like, 'No one every keeps quiet...' "Before I was so rudely interrupted," at this Apollo shot Ares and me a glare, which I just shrugged at./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);""Our next contestant or should I say contestants... Are Leo Valdez and Calypso!" Apollo gave me an evil grin which I happily returned./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Calypso got out of her seat and walked towards me, her ponytail swaying and her lips in a pouting shape. "Shall we, milady?" I bowed down and offered my hand./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"She slapped my head as I yowled in pain. "I'm not a princess Flame Boy." She rolled her eyes./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"I cheesily replied, "You are a princess to me..." At this she blushed before regaining her posture and once again, whacked me on the chest./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"By the time I was rubbing my chest, Calypso was already up on the stage, hands on her hips and boys drooling over her./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"As I walked towards the stage, I lit my hand on fire every time somebody looked at Calypso. Once I got onto the stage, Calypso smirked, "Are you jealous?" I pouted and she giggled at my face./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Her laughter was music to my ears. I held her hand and we stood in the middle of the stage, light shining in our eyes./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);""What would you both like to do?" Apollo flashed us a grin. I quickly answered, "Singing and Dancing!"/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"At this Calypso frowned and I was worried./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Did I pick the wrong choice? Maybe Calypso didn't like performing in front of a crowd?/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"She spoke into the microphone, "We would like to sing, I Will Never Let You Down by Rita Ora ." Apollo whistled before starting the beat of the music./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"As the music started, I instantly started dancing, doing the occasional back flips, cartwheels, somersaults and handstands./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"As the lyrics came, I took the extra microphone and sang along with Calypso's sweet, beautiful and gentle voice. "When you say you'd had enough, and you might just give it up. Oh oh oh, I will never let you down!"/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"I held Calypso's soft hand and gazed lovingly into her eyes. This song fitted us perfectly. When she thought she lost me, I came back to her and kept my promise cause I would and will never let her down./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"-FLASHBACK-/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Calypso's P.O.V/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family:  
'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"I watched as the makeshift boat sailed away from the island, so far till it was a tiny dot in the horizon./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Once I saw the boat disappear from my sight, I collapsed onto the white sand, crumpling my white dress. I yelled out a cry of anguish, frustration and sadness before burying me head into my knees and started crying./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Tear after tear fell from my cheeks as I thought about every single male that stepped foot onto this island. They were all so kind to me and I fell in love with every single one of them but out of all of them, I think I loved Leo the most./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Leo Valdez./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Thinking about him sent a sharp pain through my heart. He was unlike any other hero who landed on this island. He may not have been as handsome or as buff as the others but he stole my heart./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"He was the sweetest, funniest and kindest hero I had ever met. He cared for me, not only for my beauty but for my other qualities. He saw the true me./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Wiping my tears, I got up and went back into my house. Turning my head one last time to look at the ocean, I whispered, "I love you Valdez."/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"-Few days later-/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"The moon's rays shone on the shore of my island and through my window. It was night time and the whistling of leaves could be heard./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"I climbed into my bed and thought of Leo, praying he was alright. Soon, I fell into a deep sleep and had a dream./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"I was on the shore of my island. Everything was the same, except I saw myself ordering my servants to pack all my things into many luggage bags./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Wait a minute, myself?/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"I looked down and saw that I was invisible, a mere ghost-like Calypso version. Curiosity got the better of me as I inched closer to dream Calypso./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Dream Calypso was excited. There was a sparkle in her almond shaped eyes, she was tapping her fingers against her thighs and was wearing a flowing white dress with a golden belt./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"What had me so excited? As I neared Dream Calypso, she suddenly turned around and stared deeply into my eyes, as if she could see me./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Suddenly, Dream Calypso's eyes turned a shade of dark murky green and a different voice came out of Dream Calypso's mouth./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);""Hello Daughter of Atlas," a strange voice came out of Dream Calypso's mouth./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Mustering up my courage, I asked, "Who are you and why are you in my dream?"/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"A soft tired laughter could be heard as the voice said, "I am Lady Styx and as for why I am in your dream, it is because Leo Valdez has sworn on my name."/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"I immediately bowed at Lady Styx's feet, at which she told me to rise. I was puzzled, what could've Leo done to get Lady Styx in my dream?/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"She seemed to have read my mind. Sighing, she answered, "Leo Valdez had sworn on my name, swearing that he would find a way to get back to your island and get you off of here."/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);""But that's impossible!" I blurted out before clamping my mouth shut with me hands, worried for my life as I disrespected Lady Styx./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);""Leo Valdez has defeated the impossible tasks, has he not? But I am not here to discuss about Leo Valdez's achievements." She eyed me while placing her hand on my invisible shoulder./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);""I'm here to talk about you getting ready."/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);""What do you mean Lady Styx?"/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"She studied my eyes and massaged her head. "Leo Valdez will be coming back to your island in two hours after you wake up. You better get ready Daughter of Atlas. I bid you farewell. Morpheus doesn't like primordials or gods contacting mere mortals for too long in a dream. Good luck."/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Before I could ask her any questions, she gave me a wink before light started shining in my eyes and I woke up. I sat on the edge of my bed, thinking if I should trust Lady Styx's words or not./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"I decided to trust her, besides what's the worst that could happen?/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"I quickly got up and began ordering my invisible servants around, telling them to pack all my things./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"What if Lady Styx's words were true? Was Leo really coming back?/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"These thoughts kept running wild in my head as I bustled about my 'house', taking everything I needed./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"I told my servants to place my luggage on the shore of the beach as I changed out of my clothes, to a white dress that was torn at the bottom and at the sleeves. I tied my hair into a side braid and as I stepped onto the shore, with all my bags ready, I peered into the light blue sky./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"White clouds dotted the clear blue sky and the water from the ocean crashed onto the shore. Breathing in some fresh air, I looked up and saw a dot in the sky./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Wait, what?/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"I squinted my eyes and finally saw what was in the sky. It was a golden dragon and riding the dragon was a guy./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"A guy with a soot covered face, messy curly hair and an unforgettable grin plastered on his face./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Leo Valdez was actually here./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"As he crashed right at my feet, he spat out some sand and gave me a mischievous grin with a twinkle in his eyes./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"I missed that grin so much./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"-FLASHBACK END-/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"-FLASHBACK-/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Leo's P.O.V/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Let's get this straight. I was having a really great New Year's Eve Day before the monsters came./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"I know I'm hot, to everyone and everything, even monsters but they just HAD to interrupt a kiss between Calypso and me, hadn't they?/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"I lit my hand on fire and threw fireball after fireball at the monsters. I turned around, to make sure Calypso was okay, only to find herself fending herself quite well with a celestial bronze spear quite well./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Wait, a celestial bronze spear?/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"I shook my head, telling myself to focus on the enemy at hand but I heard a piercing scream through the air./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);""Calypso!" I shouted as I quickly killed the monsters in my way, only to find a Cyclops holding Calypso by the throat./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color:  
#545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);""Let. Her. Go." I growled as I got a celestial bronze hammer out of my tool belt./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"A Cyclops? No problem, just gotta remember not to use fire./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Suddenly, a whole group of monsters, about 15 to 20 appeared from behind the trees. "What in Hades?" I couldn't believe it, I thought I would die a heroic death, like saving a doughnut from being crushed on by a car, not being killed by monsters./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);""Leo Valdez, aren't you the one who killed Gaia?" The Cyclops snarled and gripped Calypso's neck harder till it turned pale white./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);""Let go of her!" I roared as two monsters held me back from charging towards him. I met Calypso's eyes. She had only seen the world for 2 months and now she was going to die because of me./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Like how my mum died./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Blinking back tears, I suddenly had an idea. "Take my life in exchange for hers..." I whispered./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"The Cyclops frowned and told me to speak up./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);""You can torture me, kill me, put me in a cage, anything you want to do to me as long as you release her!" I screamed out./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"The Cyclops chuckled, turning his head towards me, he studied my eyes. "What makes you think we will take that offer? We have BOTH of you in our hands!"/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"He laughed as the monsters behind him roared their approval. "My friends are coming," I immediately replied. "You know, the rest of the seven plus their dragon, the mighty Fetsus!"/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Instantly, all the monsters paled and started murmuring uncertainly amongst themselves./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);""SILENCE!" The Cyclops roared but had a hint of uncertainty in his voice./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);""What makes you think this demigod is telling the truth! They lie ALL THE TIME!"/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Murmurs of agreement were heard as the monsters started chanting, "DEMIGODS LIE! DEMIGODS LIE! DEMIGODS LIE!"/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Calypso looked at me, confused and pale. I winked at her but deep inside, I hoped my plan will work. I broke out of the monsters grasp and immediately started slamming my hammer against the ground, creating a Morse code message./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding:  
0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"The monsters laughed at me, thinking what was I doing until their laughter faltered as they heard a loud roar in the sky./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);""Captain, what wasssss that?" A dracnae (Is that how you spell it?) asked as she furrowed her eyebrows./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Fetsus came into view, bronze wings flapping and breathing out fire from his mouth. "BOOYEAH!" I shouted as I threw the hammer against the Cyclops hand, allowing Calypso to be free./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Once she was free, we stood back to back. Wielding her spear, she blew a strand of hair away from her face. Our eyes met and we started attacking all the monsters. New found power surged through me, with a bronze dragon and a fierce beautiful girlfriend, how could we not win?/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"-FLASHABCK END-/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Leo's P.O.V/spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"As the song ended, I saw Calypso's flashback and couldn't help but kiss her deeply on the lips./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"When we broke apart from our kiss, I noticed Calypso sniffling and tears dripping down her face. "Thank you for never letting me down Flame Boy," Calypso muttered as she buried her head in my shoulder while I drew circles on her back, telling her how much she meant to me./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"After our little 'couple' time, we turned round to face the audience who were actually cheering for us the whole time when we were in our own world./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"Apollo flashed us back to our seats and settled the audience down, wanting to announce the next couple contestants./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /span style="color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);""May I now present..." Apollo announced as he spread his arms out./spanbr style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #545454; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);" /br /p 


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Apollo's P.O.V  
I was excited yet anxious. I decided to end the show with _him_. It'll be great, no, it'll be amazing! Wonderful! Spectacular! The only tiny small problem? I might actually die from _his_ anger.

I can see it now! _He's_ gonna be shocked, then furious and will storm up to the stage, take the water vapour around me (Who is an absolutely amazing god and should not die) and turn it into water, before stuffing it in my throat so I can never say my haikus again!

Or _he'll_ probably just chop my body up into tiny pieces with his sword and it would take a millennia for me to reform.

In my opinion, the first choice seems much more awful...

Anyway, back to the microphone/demigods. Technically they're almost the same. Both as hard as metal and don't have brains.

I'm getting off track.

I flashed a grin with my blinding white teeth at the girls, which made most of them immediately swoon. My sister shot me a glare and I stopped.

I don't want her chasing after me with all her pet wolves like last time. Just thinking about it made me shiver. The wolves left me bruised blue and black with a big patch of my hair missing and my billions of drachmas worth suit torn.

You must be thinking, "Gee Apollo, you're such an awesome god, not to mention an Olympian God. Why couldn't you just snap your fingers and make your hair back to normal again and your suit fixed?"

Why, you stupid mortals. Did I forget to mention, my sister cursed me with a curse that lasted for a week. The curse was that I would NOT BE ABLE TO FIX MY HAIR AND SUIT BACK TO NORMAL! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?

Anyway, I continued talking. "That was a great performance by Calypso and Leo Valdez. THE COW GOES MOO! THE DUCKS GO QUACK! QUACK MOO QUACK MOO!"

Immediately, everyone starting cracking up and laughing at me. I felt my face go tomato red. Who would be so sneaky and make me, the GREATEST GOD look like a fool?

Oh wait a minute...

"LEO VALDEZ!"

After chasing after Leo for half an hour, I finally stopped since I wanted to finish the next performances as soon as possible to get to _him_.

I summoned a new microphone and spoke, "Our next couple contestants are Jason Grace and Piper McLean! Give it up for the son of Zeus, my half brother and his girlfriend!"

Cheers and whistles were heard as Jason and Piper blushed really hard till their whole face just looked like a giant tomato.

Jason got off his seat before offering his hand to Piper, which she gladly accepted. As they were walking up to the stage, Aphrodite squealed out a faint, "SO MANY OTP'S! AND NOW IS MY SECOND FAVOURITE, JASPER/JIPER!"

I mentally facepalmed myself. When Aphrodite starts squealing and her children are in the room, cover your ears in 3... 2... 1...

A chorus of squeals could be heard in the throne room just as I flashed earplugs into everyone's ears. They looked at me gratefully but still flinched at the percentage of noise they could hear.

After waiting a while, the squealing slowly died down and we could resume the competition again. "Well," I started off. "That was... unexpected..." I trailed off as some gods shot Aphrodite a glare which she totally ignored as she gushing about something.

"All right, what would you two lovebirds like to sing?" I raised my eyebrows with my hands hovering over my keyboard.

Jason fidgeted nervously while he pushed his glasses up. Piper and him seemed to have a silent agreement before Piper answered, "We will both like to sing One Call Away by Charlie Puth."

They both blushed deep red as I flashed a microphone onto each of their hands as I started the music. "I will be one call away. I'll be there to save the day, superman got nothing on me. I will be one call away," Piper's high and beautiful voice sounded different from Jason's low and deep voice but they sounded perfect together.

As they sang, a flashback appeared on the screen but the two lovebirds didn't notice. They were too busy lost in each others' eyes.

Hey, this is a perfect time for a Haiku!

My step-bro sings low  
He sings a song with his girl  
I am so awesome

-FLASHBACK-

Piper's P.O.V  
"Thanks for the ride Mr John," I gratefully told John, an old man with a twinkle in his eyes. John was my dad's regular chauffeur.

Since young, John was like a second father to me when my dad was too busy filming or being interviewed. John gave me a big hug while letting out a chuckle, "Piper, what did I tell you? Don't call me Mr John. Call me John or godfather or gramps,"

I flashed John a blinding smile, "Yeah, I know but it sounds so disrespectful."

John waved his hand and rolled his eyes. "Disrespectful, my foot. I have known you since you were born Piper, it's almost like I am your grandpa."

I bit the inside of my cheek to refrain from laughing and just nodded my head instead. "Okayyy Grandpaaaaa," I exaggerated on the word Grandpa as he rolled his eyes again, all sassy-like.

After hugging, I waved at John 'goodbye' and faced the humongous mansion. It was made of blinding white bricks as the main building blocks and golden curls painted around the door frames and windows.

Bushes trimmed in various shapes and sizes adorned the entrance to the front door of the house, making it look like a palace or something related to royalty.

I mustered up my courage and rang the doorbell three times, an old ritual my dad and I used to have to show that it was one of us at the front door and not the paparazzi.

Almost immdiately, I was met with a tight hug and felt warm breathing down my neck. Straight brown-black hair blocked my eyesight before it disappeared and was replaced with my grinning dad.

"Piper! What are you doing here?" My dad seemed relatively surprised and I frowned.

He forgot, again.

I told him I would be coming today to visit since my 'Summer Camp' let us leave earlier. "What's wrong Piper? Are you okay?"

My dad stroked my hair while he scrunched up his eyebrows. I bit my lip and nodded. It would be selfish of me if I accused him of not paying enough attention to me.

I waved one hand casually, as if telling him it was nothing. He ushered me into the mansion when the sky darkened.

As we sat at the living room bay window, rain started pouring down from the skies and we heard thunder in the distance before there was a flash of lightning.

'Zeus must be mad, or one of his children...' I thought. I was snapped back to reality when my father asked me, "So, what do you do in your camp?"

'Camp Half-Blood' I thought in my head but before I could answer him, a Cyclop crashed through the bay window.

Glass pieces were everywhere in the living room and blood was trickling down my dad's face. Ever since we put Gaia back to sleep, monsters were confused and mad so they just pummeled a lot of things randomly.

'And this one is no different,' I thought as I took out my dagger from my pocket, preparing to fight the Cyclop and defend my dad.

Suddenly, a blur of yellow and purple was seen before gold dust lay at my feet, the essence of the dead Cyclop. I raised my head only to see...

"Jason?!" I asked alarmed and surprised. Jason turned his well-toned body around, only to see me standing there. Jason was wearing a purple shirt, the colour of romans, and dark blue jeans.

He was wearing his celestial bronze glasses that made him look smart and hot at the same time.

"Pipes? I didn't know you lived here!" Jason rushed towards me. Just as we were about to kiss, my dad punched Jason right in the gut.

I whipped my head around and shouted, "Why'd you punch him?" My dad looked confused before he turned angry. "I was protecting you Piper! Just because this muscular guy walks in and saves us from a burglar, that does not mean you immediately fall in love with him! Much less let him kiss you!"

My dad ranted before noticing me tending to Jason's wound from the Cyclop. Just as my dad was about to open his mouth again, I stood up angrily and grabbed Jason's shirt, pulling him into a kiss.

My dad's mouth was hanging open and he was flabbergasted. "Jason's my boyfriend from Camp!" I rolled my eyes while shouting.

Jason looked at me, with a cheeky grin plastered across his face and an eyebrow raised. I blushed a deep tomato red while my dad's head was swiveling from me to Jason.

"WHAT?" My dad finally screamed after an awakward moment of 5 minutes. "You cannot have a boyfriend Piper McLean! I am your father, so respect my words! I have a higher authority over you," My dad spat out.

I was furious. All the anger I hid from my dad for so many years, bubbled inside of me. I tried to push the anger down but it was getting the better of me.

"SHUT THE HADES UP!" I screamed out loud, punching a vase near me, breaking it into half.

"Don't you DARE say you have ANY authority over me! Where were you for my whole childhood? Where were you when I was in school getting bullied and teased? Where were you when I was turning into a teen? WHERE WERE YOU FOR MY WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE?"

A tear escaped from my right eye before I dashed out of the broken window, running beyond the mansion walls. Away from the mansion.

Away from my father.

Jason's P.O.V  
I watched Piper run away from her dad as I looked out the broken window. 'Stupid Piper's dad. He should go rot in Hades...' I cursed silently in my mind when I balled my fist.

My knuckles were turning white from anger of hearing Piper's dad complaining about how his own daughter could talk back like that and how she thought he did not take care of her.

"That's because you didn't!" I snapped at Piper's father as I heard him complaining. "You were never there for Piper since she was born!"

Piper's dad's nostrils flared as he was about to speak, I questioned:

"What's her favourite colour?"

"What's her favourite animal?"

"What's her favourite and least favourite food?"

Piper's dad paled for a while before collapsing on the couch. "I have been a horrible father!" He exclaimed as he threw his hands up when realization dawned on him.

"I've been so busy with work that I didn't even think about my daughter... I am a horrible and selfish father," Piper's dad moaned, clutching his head.

Suddenly, a pink smoke filled up the room before disappearing. "Lady Aphrodite! Uhhh... I mean Venus! Or Aphrodite! I mean..."

I bowed down quickly and stuttered just as soon as I saw my girlfriend's mother's beauty. Aphrodite giggled and waved her hand.

"Don't bow to me Jason dear. You are going to be my son in-law soon, yes?" Hearing those words, I blushed a deep shade of red while rising up.

"And you..." Aphrodite turned on her heel and swayed her hips, walking towards Piper's dad whose mouth was hanging wide open.

Piper's dad raised his hand up to caress Aphrodite's cheeks. "Katherine? I thought... I thought you died?" Just as Piper's dad was about to place his mouth on Aphrodite's lips, a loud slap was heard in the air with Aphrodite's hands on Piper's dad's cheek.

"YOU! YOU HORRIBLE IDIOTIC FATHER! TRISTAN MCLEAN, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" Aphrodite shrieked at Piper's dad, a slight glow emitting from her.

Piper's dad rubbed his cheek, anger and confusion in his eyes. "What do YOU mean that I AM a horrible father? YOU haven't even been there for Piper for her WHOLE LIFE!"

As they argued back and forth, spit flying across the room, I had enough. My girlfriend was gods know where and her parents were arguing about who was the better parent.

Anger boiled inside of me. All the anger I held in since I was young was released. "SHUT THE HADES UP!" I roared, my whole body trembling from anger. _**(Like girlfriend, like boyfriend)**_

Thunder was heard and a lightning bolt struck right in the middle of the McLean's garden, which was where a fountain was.

Piper's dad took one look at his once white gleaming fountain, now a pile of black rubble. I shot both the adults in the room, who were actually acting like children, the best wolf glare I could make, courtesy of Lupa.

The glare definitely had an effect as both adults immediately shrunk under my glare and uneasily shuffling their feet. Just as Aphrodite was about to open her mouth, I ran past the glass pieces and out into the garden.

While dashing towards the gate of the mansion, I remembered Piper told me that whenever her dad was being horrible, she would head over to a tree house she had built all by herself.

I summoned the air around me to raise me into the sky. When I was high up in the sky, I scanned the whole mansion. I saw a swimming pool in a glass-like container, an outdoor study room, a garden maze and a big maple tree sitting at a hidden corner of the mansion, covering the view of the tree were long vines.

I shot down to where the hidden spot was and when I landed, I cautiously pushed the vines away, seeing one of the most beautiful garden ever.

It was a very beautiful garden. A small pond was at the side, with ducks swimming across it and pretty flowers floating on top. And at the edge of the pond was a beautifully carbed wooden swing. At another side was many flowers arranged in colours

There were roses, tulips, lilies, daisies, you name it, it was there. In the middle of it all, was a big maple tree majestically sittung there.

Its branches spreaded out and its leaves blocking the sun's heat from coming into the garden. At one particularly stronger branch sat a tree house.

The tree house was entirely made out of wood, blending in with the tree trunk. Two small windows and a curved door was at the front, with lavender purple curtains. A small 'balcony' was at the front of the tree house as well, with some potted plants sitting on it.

While I was taking in the beauty of the garden, I suddenly heard a faint sound of sniffling coming from the tree house.

My curiousity got the better of me and I reached for the ladder that was camouflaged against the tree trunk. Hoisting myself up the ladder, I started to climb up.

As I reached the balcony, I peered through the window but it was pitch black dark in there. Softly, I crept towards the door, reaching my hand out to turn the knob of the door.

As I entered the room, the sunlight from the outside came in through the door, giving me a good view of the room.

It had turquoise walls that held many pictures of Piper when she was younger, her dad and her hanging out but one wall held pictures of everyone from Camp and in the middle of all of it was a picture of me and her kissing while floating in the air with a sunset behind us.

I remembered that day so well.

It was the day when I finally mustered up my courage and confessed my love to her. She was wearing a white sundress with a bit of eyeliner on and her soft brown hair was tied up in a loose bun.

She was and still is beautiful. Much more beautiful than Aphrodite. Suddenly, I jolted up from my daydreaming.

The sniffling. I could hear it again.

I scanned the room again. There was a white comfy looking couch, some white armchairs, a black circular coffee table with a glass on top at one side of the wooden miniature house.

At the other side was a large television, with sleek silver sides and it sat on top of a grey television cabinet, stuffed with movies, CDs, video games and a sound system.

There was an indoor hammock, in between two branches of the maple tree that this tree house sat on. The hammock was a pastel purple colour, complete with a violet coloured pillow and a magenta blanket.

"Woah..." I whispered to myself, amazed at how Piper managed to do all this. Furrowing my eyebrows, I heard the sniffling again.

Checking every crook and cranny of the tree house, I found no Piper.

And then something caught my eye.

One window, right next to the hammock was wide open with a rope dangling near the window.

"Di immortals," I silently cursed myself for being so oblivious to something that was in front of me the whole time. I peeked out the window, noticing the rope didn't go all the way down to the ground but stopped right at the window.

'Weird...' I thought as I scratched my head. Suddenly I remembered a time when I was fighting a group of monsters in total darkness with Percy when we were trapped in an alley with all the lights out.

Percy and I had been swiping the air with our swords, trying to find the monsters but they were fast and sneaky. They managed to hit us many times and as we were thinking about what our gravestones would look like, Percy had said: "What comes down must go up..."

Percy had realized that all the hits we were getting were from above us so we started attacking the air above us, which resulted in us being very much alive and me having more respect for the son of Poseidon.

He was smarter than he looked.

Snapping out of it, I looked up and saw the rope leading to the roof. 'Bingo!' I smirked smugly before jumping out the window, grabbing the rope and climbing it up with my bare hands.

When I reached the rooftop, I saw the back of a slim figure with chocolate brown hair sitting at the edge of the roof, staring blankly ahead.

I made my way towards the figure before plopping myself beside her, gently placing my arm around her waist as she snuggled closer to me.

I lifted the chin of the figure while whispering, "Pipes? I love you," I stared at her kaleidoscope eyes that were filled with tears.

I wiped away some of her tears before I gave her a loving kiss on her lips, letting her know that she was not alone.

After we moved away from our kiss, Piper looked up at me, kaleidoscope eyes meeting blue eyes.

"I love you too," Piper's hand touched my cheek. It was then I realized it was the first 'I love you' we had said to each other.

-FLASHBACK END-

Aphrodite's P.O.V  
When the song ended, everyone started applauding loudly with some occasional whistling.

"Thank you Jasper! Or is it Jiper?" Apollo furrowed his eyebrows as he flashed my daughter and Jason to thir seats while both of them were holding hands like those old couples from the nineties.

I squealed inwardly. They were totes cute together.

At first, I had my motherly instincts on high alert when I found out my darling Piper and Jason loved each other.

Jason was the son of Jupiter and although Jupiter was more disciplined than Zeus, both of them had the most number of affairs.

And their children. Oh boy, their children.

Countless of Zeus and Jupiter descendants in the mortal world. Although those descendants had a bit of godly blood in them, thankfully they did not have their ancestors' powers or half the world would be throwing lightning bolts all over the place.

But I knew from the moment I saw Jason willing to sacrifice his life for Piper no matter what, I approved of their relationship, giving them my full blessing which meant they would forever stay together.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I heard Apollo announce the competition would now have a short break and everyone was allowed to roam around.

Sighing, I looked over my shoulder to see Ares staring at me hungrily, which meant he wanted to sleep with me.

Again.

Inwardly, I rolled my eyes but on the outside, I flirted with him. Biting my lower lip and twirling a strand of hair around my finger, I winked at him.

Ares immediately started drooling and I saw how Ares saw me. You see mortals, whenever someone looked or took a glance at me, they would see what type of person they liked.

To Jason, I looked like Piper. To Percy, I looked like Annabeth.  
To Ares, you may ask?

I looked into the picture in my mind. Whatever appearance I may look like to anyone, the image of how they saw me would be in my mind.

As always, to Ares I was a woman with long wavy light brown hair, midnight black eyes and pouty lips. Apparently to him, I was wearing a very revealing dress that went down to just barely below my thighs and stopped in the middle of my boobs.

The dress was a dark velvet red colour, very identical to the colour of blood. My magical belt was tied around my super small waist. A necklace with one big black gem in the middle was hung around my neck.

As I continued to flirt with Ares, I suddenly felt somebody looking at me. At the corner of my right eye, I spotted Apollo walking down the stage steps, towards Hermes.

When Apollo reached Hermes, both of them communicated telepathically before taking a quick glance at me. They spoke in hushed whispers, eyes bolting around the throne room.

Apollo said something that made Hermes raise his eyebrows before they both flashed out. I furrowed my eyebrows, what made Apollo and Hermes act so suspicious?

Many questions were in my head, it was giving me a headache. I looked at Ares, giving him my puppy dog eyes, telling him I had to go and I promised I would have fun with him later.

Ares, like the fool he is, just nodded his head. He winked at me just as I flashed out. I breathed a sigh of relief. I could not wait to get away from Ares.

Our relationship was so fake. He loved me for my outer appearance and not my inner self. I loved him for he gave me attention, something that I craved for daily.

Hepheatsus' P.O.V  
"What is it," I grumbled when I saw Apollo and Hermes flash right next to me. I was walking to the Olympus cafe while tinkering around with some random objects in my hands.

Both of the mischievous gods had a silent argument before Apollo was smiling triumphantly and Hermes was sulking like a mechanical bull without it's daily meal of oil.

"Hepheatsus, my dear brother!" Apollo announced dramatically, spreading his arms out. Apollo continued, "Do you still love Aphrodite?"

Immediately, I halted. Dropping the object that I was tinkering with onto the floor, I stared straight ahead.

Aphrodite.

My supposed wife. 'Ex-wife,' I reminded myself. Most husbands would be furious and beyond raging mad with their wives if they cheated.

I was mad at first but then I realized, with my disfigured legs, every goddess on Olympus would never want to be with me unless it was for fame for I was an Olympian.

Burrowing my sorrow deep into my soul, I snapped back, "What about her Apollo? Are you and Hermes here to tease me for being so oblivious to Aphrodite cheating on me behind my back when we were married? If so, get the Hades out of my face or you'll regret it..."

Hermes and Apollo paled as they heard my threat.

Nonetheless, Apollo piped up, "No brother, you are sorely mistaken. That was not our intention. Just answer our question please?"

Hermes' head swiped from me to Apollo, back and forth like a mechanical bird gone haywire and flying aimlessly through the air.

I wanted to lie.

I wanted to tell Apollo I despised Aphrodite as much as I despised Ares but alas, I could not.

I felt warmth on my cheeks as I nodded my head grudgingly. Hermes and Apollo had another silent conversation again before they turned to me.

"Do you hate Ares?" Hermes asked.

I furrowed my eyebrows, slowly nodding my head. What was the meaning behind this peculiar conversation?

"Do you want Aphrodite back?" Apollo questioned.

I thought hard on that one. Even if I got her back, she would still be cheating on me behind my back with Ares.

However, I knew Aphrodite.

The real Aphrodite. Not the fake love goddess.

We used to work together on making jewelry like necklaces for she had the gems and the fashion sense and I had the ability to make the shape of the necklace.

During that time, I got to know her well and she got to know me. Soon, I realized I formed a crush on her like any other god but I knew it was pointless if I confessed my love to her.

She was gorgeous while I was... Hepheatsus.

You could imagine my happiness and joy when we were made husband and wife but I saw her sneaking off every night to meet up with Ares.

I didn't say a thing about it for I thought she truly loved me and would never cheat on me. I constantly told myself I was just imagining things when I spied on her.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I nodded back at Apollo and Hermes which made them have another silent conversation.

"Hepheatsus..." Apollo started off, dragging the last letter of my name like a pesky little toddler teasing a sibling.

"If you want Aphrodite back, you will firstly need a makeover!" Hermes placed his hands on Apollo's shoulder and mine. I was flashed into a blinding gold room with pure gold walls and quartz floors.

A hot tub was in the middle of the room and the tub was lined with gold as well. The whole room blinded me and I immediately knew whose bathroom this was. It was Apollo's.

"Makeover time!" Apollo clapped his hands together and I found myself lying in the hot tub with invisible servants scrubbing and cleaning me.

Soon after my relaxing bath, I smelt like well, my old self before I started building things without taking a break after my divorce with Aphrodite.

But it was not over yet. Hermes took out shaving cream and a shaver.

"Hey, wait a minute-" I slowly inched further away from Hermes, only to find my back against a wall.

"Sorry bro but we all know how you look now is not the real you..." Hermes raised the shaver and cream up in the air.

"BEHOLD! THE AMAZING OBJECTS THAT KILLS LONG WEIRD BEARDS!"

And with that, Hermes shaved off my beard and my hair on top of my head. Looking satisfied, Hermes threw the shaver and cream into a bin and smirked.

Next, Apollo flashed me into another room. It was all gold again but the floor was a red carpet.

"Now brother, sit!" Apollo flashed a chair under my buttocks and I sat down. A huge mirror was flashed in front of me and Hermes started flashing different hairstyles on me but they were all my original hair colour, chestnut brown.

"Mohawk?" Hermed questioned and taking one glance at the mirror, my brother, Apollo, and I immediately shook our heads.

"Bieber?" Shaking of heads.

"Buzz cut?" Shake.

"Long fringe?" Cue shaking.

After a billion different hairstyles, I gave a gruff sigh. Just as I was about to tell my brothers that they should give up, Apollo raised his eyebrow

"Hey... what about this?" Apollo cracked his knuckles before flashing a different hairstyle for my hair. Taking one look in the mirror, I nodded my head vigorously.

My chestnut brown was gelled up into a faux hawk that showed off my sharp jaw line that was once covered up by my grimy looking beard.

Apollo flashed me a grin and I distinctly heard Hermes mutter that why couldn't Apollo have done it sooner.

Rolling my eyes at my brothers immaturity, I then asked, "What's next?" Hermes answered my question while clicking his fingers, making the chair I was sitting on, disappear.

Thankfully, I had quick reflexes and jumped up from my seat. I gave a ferocious glare towards Hermes but he was too busy answering my question to look at me.

"Next is clothes!"

Apollo pumped his fists in the air, screaming about how awesome he was at fashion.

"Okay, are you ready bro?" Apollo grinned maniacally while rubbing his hands together. I nodded my head worriedly after seeing the gleam in Apollo's eyes.

"Firstly, what type of style do you like?" Hermes raised his eyebrow, staring at me questionably.

Pondering the question Hermes gave me, I was very much tempted to rub my chin since my face was now beard free.

Suddenly, I remembered what I used to wear when I was more hygienic and took a bathe.

"I used to wear plaid shirts, most of the time black and red, over a white v-neck shirt. I think I used to wear dark faded jeans..."

Apollo and Hermes had a silent conversation between each other again before they flashed onto me the clothes I used to wear that I had just told them about.

I looked in the mirror and saw the old Hepheatsus.

The one before the divorce with the goddess of love.

The one before the depression after being heartbroken.

The one before many responsibilities were placed before him after declaring himself the son of Hera and joining the Olympian council.

I bit my lower lip to stop myself from bawling. I left my underwater home and my 'mother' to get revenge on my real mother, Hera, for casting me away like rubbish.

As I looked in the mirror, I could not help but stare at my legs. My legs... they ruined my life.

If Hera had never thrown me from her window, my legs wouldn't be all crushed up like a drink can.

Although, I had to admit I looked pretty dashing considering I looked like a beggar just an hour ago.

The tight white shirt allowed my bulging muscles to be seen and my biceps seemed larger than usual. I took another look at myself again.

I had no more dirty beard, oily and long hair, dirt and oil stained clothes or even a pimple on me.

Truth to be told, I was very impressed by my brothers ability to make me look like my old self again.

"Hold on a second, why in hades would you two want to help me?" I pointed at them suspiciously.

As they stuttered for a while, they finally gave up and told me the truth. "We both don't like Ares and wanted revenge on him. What could make him mad? Get his girlfriend, Aphrodite, to break up with him. Then we immediately thought of you. You could help us with our plan. We were killing two birds with one stone!"

For a moment, I thought they used me.

Tricked me.

Deceived me.

Then they swore on the river styx that they really meant to help me as well. Neither of them were blown up nor vaporized on the spot.

I nodded my head slowly, still expecting a vortex to suddenly appear next to them and suck them up.

"Now... time to put this plan into action..." Hermes rubbed his hands, cackling in glee alongside with Apollo.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Aphrodite's P.O.V  
I flashed into the Olympian Council's throne room and immediately walked towards my daughter, Piper.

"Mum! What are you doing here?" Piper's kaleidoscope eyes clearly gave away how shocked and surprised she was.

Instead of answering her question, I communicated with Jason telepathically. 'Jason, be a dear and please give Piper and me a moment for a mother and daughter talk.'

Jason nodded his head before turning around and started walking towards Zeus who was currently calling him.

I flashed two red velvet seats for both Piper and me to sit down.

After sitting down, I turned towards Piper. "Darling, after seeing your flashback, I forgot to clarify with you that I have sorted things out with your father. It was a real chore to convince him that the Greek Mythology was indeed real and that I was a goddess, but not as difficult for me to convince your father to allow you and Jason to date..."

As I trailed off, Piper's eyes widened and asked in disbelief, "Are you serious? Thank you mum, so, so, so much! This means a lot to me!"

Piper leaned forward and squeezed me tightly in a hug. I, on the other hand, was equally in shock.

As a gorgeous goddess mother who is always busy and never pay that much attention to my children, I often don't get hugs from my children.

While we pulled away from the long hug, I continued, "It was not easy getting your father to agree with you and Jason and I'm a goddess! I've lived for a long time and I haven't met anyone that persistent on not letting their daughter date! It took me 4 hours, 53 minutes and 26 seconds to get him to approve of your relationship, AND I was using my charmspeak!"

I was babbling on and on until Piper tapped me on my shoulder. "Mum, I get it. You don't have to explain everything but... thank you Mum. Even though you don't spend a lot of time with your children and when you do, you're mostly checking out yourself, thank you for being my Mum."

I felt a little tear trickle down my cheek before I dabbed my eyes with my silk handkerchief.

I bit my lip and asked, "Is my mascara running?" Piper and I took one look at each other, before bursting out in a fit of giggles.

Just as I was about to say something to Piper, Apollo's voice echoed around the Olympian Council's throne room.

3rd Person's P.O.V  
"Demigods, Gods and Goddesses! Oh, and you too Dionysus!" Dionysus rolled his eyes as Apollo grinned.

"Hermes and I have a special announcement to make before we continue with our competition..."

Everyone was now rushing into the throne room and plopping down on their seats. Some demigods waited anxiously for Apollo to continue while chewing a mouthful of popcorn and shaking their leg.

Some God (Dionysus), was fast asleep on his mini throne.

Hermes walked up onto the stage with a microphone in his hand. "We would like to invite a God onto the stage! H, may you please come up!"

Everyone was puzzled. Who was 'H'? The only Gods starting with the letter 'H' in the Olympian Council's Throne Room was Hermes, who was up on stage, Hades, who was definitely not involved in this since he was equally confused as everyone else, and Hepheatsus.

Wait a minute.

As soon as everyone's lightbulbs were lighting up, the said God they were thinking of was secretly behind the backstage curtains.

"You called for me?" A gruff voice that sounded suspiciously like Hepheatsus echoed around the room. As fast as lightning, Zeus was on his feet, his Master Bolt in his hand.

"WHO ARE YOU?" Zeus boomed.

The man sighed, "I can't believe my own family doesn't even know who I am..."

Athena and her children immediately connected the dots.

"Hepheatsus?" Annabeth questioned as Hepheatsus stepped out from behind the curtains. Everyone in the room had their jaws hanging wide open.

They could not believe the man standing on the stage was Hepheatsus.

The man was absolutely gorgeous except the fact that you could see his legs were weak and wobbly.

"Hepheatsus?" Ares squeaked out, his face clearly worried. "What Ares? Are you worried that Hepheatsus is now better than you in everything? Well, news flash. He was already better than you in everything before today," Percy rolled his eyes at Ares but he didn't talk back since he was still in shock.

"Wow, Hepheatsus! You look... hot..." Athena flirted, flashed next to Hepheatsus, and then placed her hand on his shoulder.

Hepheatsus blushed as red as a rose but insisted, "I'm not that handsome..." Athena, who was not acting like herself, giggled and slapped Hepheatsus' arm playfully.

"Oh you, with your jokes!" Athena winked and flashed back to her seat.

"Why's your mum acting all cuckoo?" Percy poked Annabeth's arm. The blonde sighed, "Hepheatsus used to woo my mum but my mum always rejected him. I guess, now that he's better looking, my mum wants him. I mean they already have so much in common! They're kind of the perfect couple!"

Percy gave Annabeth a look.

"Are you kidding? Aphrodite and Hepheatsus are the perfect couple. Do you see the way they look at each other?"

Just as Annabeth was about to open her mouth, Percy continued, "Besides, I think Apollo and Hermes are the reason for Hepheatsus' makeover. And the way Athena is glaring at both of them, I'm betting they made a deal with her. I know you're gonna ask, why? Well, I'm guessing they want to get Ares mad and Aphrodite jealous so that they can get revenge on Ares by getting Aphrodite and Hepheatsus back together..."

Percy pointed at Athena, who was currently glaring at Apollo and Hermes, before pointing at Aphrodite, who was glaring at Athena, and Ares who was glaring at Hepheatsus.

"Since when did you get so smart Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth crossed her arms, an eyebrow raised. Percy widened his eyes. "Hey! I'm very smart!"

Then he furrowed his eyebrows and said, "Well, I'm smarter than I look..."

Their conversation was interrupted when Ares flashed right next to Hepheatsus and whipped out an axe dripping with blood.

"You think you can steal my girl?" Ares roared just as he struck Hepheatsus at his chest. Thankfully, Hepheatsus had quick reflexes and leaned blackwards, the axe inches away from his face.

"You!" Ares swung at Hepheatsus' head.

"Are!" Hepheatsus dodged the attack again.

"Worthless!"

But this time, instead of dodging the attack, Hepheatsus reached his hands out and caught the axe.

"I am not worthless!" Hepheatsus hissed while snatching the axe away from Ares. Suddenly, just as Hepheatsus was about to swing the axe, Aphrodite flashed in between the two gods.

Immediately, Hepheatsus stopped. "Get out of the way Aphrodite, now." He snapped, bringing the axe behind his back.

Aphrodite took this as her chance to view Hepheatsus up close. His sharp jawline, unused dimples, his chestnut brown hair and his warm brown eyes, with little flames dancing in them.

Also, a long scar ran across his arm, his scar from the time he made the ring for Aphrodite.

What ring? Why, the ring Aphrodite was wearing. It was a silver band, with gold swirls decorating it and a gem that changed colours depending on her mood.

Snapping out of her thoughts, the love Goddess placed her hand on Hephaestus' arm. "Please, don't act rashly," She placed charm speak in her voice making Hephaestus drop the axe.

Aphrodite breathed a huge sigh of relief not before Hephaestus picked up the axe again.

"Nice try Aphrodite, but I've stopped reacting to your charmspeak after we divorced," The angry God growled. "You cheated on me with Ares just because I was ugly. You were spiteful towards me when we were together, now that we're not together and I've gotten a makeover, you're being nice to me. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. I'm not falling under your spell you witch!"

Aphrodite staggered backwards, shocked that Hephaestus, the God that had never gotten angry at her before, called her a witch.

'To be fair, you did cheat on him..." Hera's voice rang in her mind. 'Shut up Hera!' Aphrodite grumbled, but nonetheless felt guilty when she recalled how mean she acted towards Hephaestus when they were married.

"Hephaestus, I can explain everything. I'll tell you why I cheated on you with Ares and acted so mean towards you, but please," Aphrodite begged Hephaestus. "May we talk in private about it?"

Hephaestus' curiosity got the better of him, and he dropped the axe not before trapping Ares in a cage that he made by himself out of the all strongest metals on Earth.

The God nodded his head just as Aphrodite placed her hand on his shoulder before flashing out.

"Should we help Ares?" Apollo asked the other Gods while Ares was screaming curses at Hephaestus while locked in the cage.

"Nah. He's a big boy, he can handle himself." Hera rolled her eyes as she checked her nails. The other Gods nodded their heads in agreement.

"Should we help Ares out of the cage?" Percy asked everyone from Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter.

Just like the Gods, all the campers shook their heads, even Ares' own flesh and blood. "He was never even nice to us, his own children, why should we help him?" Clarisse shrugged, pointedly accussing Ares of not being there for his children.

Ares punched his fist against one of the cage's bar and shrieked like a 5 year old girl. He toppled backwards and whimpered in pain before wailing like a baby.

Zeus summoned an astronaut's helmet onto Ares' head and the sound of a crying a baby ceased.

Hephaestus' P.O.V  
Aphrodite placed her hand on my shoulder before flashing us out of the Olympian Council's Throne room.

As the light died down, I saw where we were. We were standing on the porch of a beach house that overlooked a clear blue beautiful ocean.

The beach house was made of many different types of wood. Oak and pine, to name a few.

The front of the house had two big glass windows and in the middle of the windows was a glass door. The porch we were standing on had two big wooden chairs.

One was painted pinkish-red while the other was painted reddish-orange. The pink chair had the backrest shaped as a heart while the red chair had its backrest shaped as a flame. Engraved on each chair in Greek was 'You and me, together forever'.

A wind chime made entirely out of seashells and diamonds was hung above and in between the two chairs.

Overall, the beach house looked modern but yet natural. I knew every type of wood and glass that this house was made out of.

I knew it all too well.

It was the beach house that I made with Aphrodite when we were married. It was one of the rare moments that Aphrodite was actually happy with me.

I had forgotten all about the house after Helios informed me of Aphrodite's unfaithfulness towards our marriage.

I made the house because I had loved her from the bottom of my heart.

I knew she missed living in the ocean after she was declared a Goddess, that was the reason why I made the house. And my heart was broken into a million pieces when I saw the evidence of her with Ares getting 'naughty' in our marriage bed.

"Hephaestus, I believe I owe you a millennia late explanation. Take a seat," My head whipped towards Aphrodite, who was now changed and wearing a flowy white dress that outlined her hourglass figure.

My eyes followed Aphrodite as she sat on the chair I made for her when we were married. She gestured to my chair and I simply shook my head and flashed a normal wooden chair next to my wedding chair.

"So..." Aphrodite trailed off.

"Here's my explanation..."

 _ **-FLASHBACK-**_

Aphrodite's P.O.V  
Wearing my silver high heels, I walked through the Olympus Garden, specially taken care of by all the gardening gods.

I sighed as my fingers lightly touched the delicate white roses.

Many Gods were already chasing after me even though it had only been a few weeks since I was introduced as the Love Goddess.

Just as I was enchanted by the roses, someone lightly tapped me on my shoulder and I gracefully turned around. It was the God with the weak knees, the Blacksmith God, Hephaestus.

I remembered him on the Olympian Council.

"Hephaestus," I greeted, nodding my head. The muscular God nervously rubbed his hand on his neck.

"Aphrodite, I know that you're new to this whole being a Goddess thing and you probably have many other much more handsomer Gods chasing after you, but will you go out with me?" I looked Hephaestus in his big brown eyes and I could sense pure love rolling off of him, to me.

"I'm sorry Hephaestus but I consider you to be more of a friend. I truly am sorry..." I whispered and looked into his sad eyes, seeing that I shattered his hope.

I heard him vow in his head, 'I, Hephaestus, God of Blacksmith swear on the River Styx to never fall in Love with any other Goddess besides Love, herself.'

Despite hearing my rejection, Hephaestus quickly brightened up and told me he had to go.

As I looked at his back while he trudged off, I realised I felt my heart slowly breaking apart.

 _ **-LINEBREAK-**_

I sighed while my head was perched on top of my knuckles. My eyes followed the God everywhere.

He sat in front of me, his hands tinkering with a bunch of seashells and diamonds. His eyebrows were furrowed together and despite his dirty beard, I thought he was hot.

I could see little beads of perspiration trickling down his forehead and I took out my silk handkerchief to wipe his forehead.

He peered up at me and gave me a goofy grin and I fell for him all over again.

"Done!" Hephaestus exclaimed after tinkering with the random objects after a few minutes. "Happy Anniversary Aphrodite!"

I felt a grin spread across my face.

In front of me was a wind chime made out of seashells and diamonds. I jumped out of my seat and squeezed my husband.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I squealed, fingering a piece of seashell.

"This is not the only gift... Our project is finally ready. I spent the whole of yesterday fixing the project!" He twirled a piece of my hair around his finger.

I shot out of my seat. "What are we waiting for? Let's go see it!" I giggled grabbing Hephaestus' arm as he flashed us to our project.

As the light slowly died down, in front of me was the project we worked on together.

Both of us had designed it and we planned for Hephaestus to make the project and me to add the decorations. I saw how Hephaestus had used all real wood which meant he carved all the wood out by hand.

I pulled my husband in for a hug, with a tear falling from my eye.

He had done so much for me because he loved me and I loved him but I was going to break his heart soon.

The tears represented my happiness and joy from being together, but also regret for what I was about to do.

 _ **-FEW DAYS AGO-**_

"Ares? What are you doing here?" I questioned the War God when I opened my palace door.

The War God stepped inside, without even asking for permission and turned around to close the door.

"I'm here for you." He snarled pulling me close to his chest.

Immediately, I pushed him off. I snapped, "I'm married, in case you didn't know. I'm a wife, a wife to an amazing God called Hephaestus. He is better than you in everyway. I told you many times and this is the final time. I. Love. Hephaestus."

"Come on babe, don't be like that!"

"Don't call me babe!"

"You better be with me or I'll show him this!"

Ares grinned smugly before showing me a slightly torn paper with a curly handwriting on it.

The paper read:

 _Dear Father, Your Majesty Oceanus,  
I found out Hephaestus' fatal flaw. He is ridiculously conscious about himself. Since his legs are already crippled and adding how ugly he looks, he'll obviously be self-conscious.  
So, I have a plan for you so that you can take over his main workshop. The step 1 of the plan is done. I am already his wife and he trusts me so it'll be easier for me to distract him while you take over his workshop.  
I think you should take over his workshop on our 'First Anniversary' because he'll be distracted planning on what gifts to give me.  
The trap is set and ready.  
Love,  
Your daughter, Aphrodite_

I stared at it before giggling out loud. "Who do YOU think he'll believe? His enemy, Ares, or his beloved wife, Aphrodite. Besides, I can always swear on River Styx that that was not written by me!"

Instead of admitting defeat, Ares smirked.

"Oh, I've got everything planned out. I've stolen some random Son of Poseidon from Elysium and threatened to not let him go unless he sends some water shaped like warriors to Hephaestus' workshop. Also, I'll show Hephaestus the letter and I know he won't believe me but Lady Styx owes me one, which means I'll swear on River Styx without 'dying'!"

Immediately, I paled.

"Besides, I know that you acknowledge Oceanus as a father whom Hephaestus despises for once sending a tsunami to his workshop. I'm sure that Hephaestus would regret marrying his enemy's daughter..." Ares stepped close to me, his body pressed against mine.

"So, would you rather to be a betrayer, an enemy's daughter or a cheater?" Ares' blinding white teeth shone as he grinned widely.

I did not want my husband to think of me as a betrayer or an enemy's daughter. It was far worse than cheating. I'd rather have sadness and anger directed towards me than disappointment and anger.

"Okay... I'll cheat on him..." My voice was barely a whisper and I choked back a sob.

Ares caressed my cheek as he gave me a triumphant grin.

"That's what I thought. Meet me at yours and Hephaestus' palace tomorrow when Helios is right above Olympus. Hephaestus will be away for a meeting and then I can put my plan into action..."

Ares turned around and headed towards the door, not before placing his dry lips onto my forehead. "Bye babe!" Ares winked at me as he slammed my palace door shut.

With no one around, I collapsed onto the floor, tears streaming down my face and my mascara running.

"I swear on the River Styx, I'll get revenge on Ares, that arrogant and idiotic War God..." I whispered to myself as a strike of lightning flashed in the sky.

"I swear..." I repeated again, with determination heard in my voice.

 _ **-AFTER HEPHAESTUS FOUND OUT-**_ **  
**  
"I can't believe you Aphrodite. I thought you loved me... I gave you my heart, and you broke it like a hammer breaking glass..." Hephaestus whispered, his eyes with dark circles under them, representing he had countless sleepless nights.

I resisted the urge to console him and forced myself to laugh viciously.

"Me? Love you? Ha! I never loved you! I only married you to ensure my position on the Olympian Council. Who would love you anyway?"

'Me...' I thought to myself.

Hephaestus removed a golden ring with words engraved with silver on the side.

"I guess you want this ring back, right? To give to your new boyfriend, Ares?" Hephaestus was breaking on the inside and outside.

I shrugged as if I didn't care about the ring.

But the truth?

I felt my heart being ripped into tiny pieces as he placed the ring in my hand before curling my fingers around it.

"Even though you broke my heart," The Blacksmith God said while a tear rolled down his cheek. "Just know, I'll never stop loving you. I hope you see your new boyfriend for his true colours..."

Hephaestus choked before turning his back to me, and walking away.

As his silhouette against the setting sun slowly disappeared, I released all my feelings from me.

Anger, at Ares, who forced me to do this.

Sadness, because of my breakup with Hephaestus.

But I did not release my Love for Hephaestus. And that Love, stayed with me, in my heart every single day.

 _ **-FLASHBACK**_ _**END-** **  
**  
_3rd Person's P.O.V  
"How do I know you're not lying? Why did you choose only this day to tell me?" Hephaestus said, biting his bottom lip.

He wanted to believe Aphrodite, he really did but he was afraid.

Afraid that she would break his heart again.

Afraid that she was lying.

Afraid that she didn't even love him.

Aphrodite let out a tiny sigh. "I know, you don't trust me anymore. So, I swear on River Styx that I am not lying Hephaestus and that I still love you, with all my heart..."

The God waited for the Goddess in front of him to vaporize on the spot but she stayed in her spot, very much alive.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you Aphrodite. It hurt me so very much, like a machine without oil, when I saw you with Ares everyday. When Helios told me about you two doing it on my bed, I was hurt. When I saw your children, I was hurt. When I saw every kiss, every hug, every word exchanged between the both of you, I felt my heart falling apart..." Hephaestus whispered as he placed his finger under Aphrodite's chin.

Suddenly, Hephaestus felt the urge to kiss Aphrodite on her rosy red lips. "Aphrodite... Are we, like dating now?" Hephaestus whispered in her ear making the Goddess feel ticklish.

"Do you... Want to?" Aphrodite stuttered, blushing from head to toe. "Technically, we're still married. We actually never divorced, we just had an argument only..." Hephaestus bit his bottom lip, fidgeting with his hands.

"So... Aphrodite. Will you be my wife again?" The words rolled off his tongue without even considering that Aphrodite might reject him.

Aphrodite blushed a deep shade of red before squealing and wrapping her arms around Hephaestus' neck.

"YES! YES, YES, YES, YES, YES!" Aphrodite screamed, smashing her lips onto Hephaestus'.

Hephaestus happily deepened the kiss, wrapping his muscular arms around Aphrodite's thin waist while the Goddess herself wrapped her arms around his neck tighter.

"I love you..." They both said at the same time, resting their foreheads against the other immortal's.

Aphrodite slipped Hephaestus' wedding ring off her finger and helped Hephaestus put on his ring.

They stared into each other's eyes again, and fell in love for each other all over again.


	13. Note

Hi guys! So sorry for not updating but life has been turbulent, but anyway I want you to know I've re-published this under the name Half-Blood Arts Showcase


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